Episode 5: What's a Dynatherm?
by ClassicCartoon27
Summary: When Voltron is damaged after a battle and in need of repair, but no one knows what the heck a Dynatherm is. Will the Toon Master and his team find one of the original scientits to fix it? Or will Prince Lotor and Dr. Claw get to Voltron first?
1. When Robeasts Attack

The following story is a continuation of the Toon Master series of stories featuring our original characters and favorite cartoons. The idea and title for this story comes from a private joke between my brother and me. Enjoy and tell us what you think.

_The author does not own any existing cartoon characters, products or locations used in this story. The author is not receiving any monetary gain from this story. No copyright infringement in intended. Any resemblance of original characters, products or locations to real life is purely coincidental. _

**EPISODE 5 – What's a Dynatherm?**

"_We can do it, but we have to do it together."_

_--- _Braveheart Lion. "The Care Bears Movie". 1985

**Welcome readers, to the Planet Arus: a crown jewel in this sector of the Toon World, a vast center of commerce, a pioneer of technological advancement, a planet unrivaled in pure scientific brilliance.**

The planet of Arus was not as most people would remember it. Hardly any life, human or otherwise, was present anymore. Thick green forests spread across the planet's surface accompanied by a silence just as dense. No animals made their homes in those woods. The trees filled in clearings where proud cities of metal and stone once stood; new skin covering over old wounds. Wandering clouds of dust drifted across deserts searching in vain for a friendly face. The bright sunlight that shone down did little to dispel the shadow of hopelessness that hung over the land.

**Or…at least it used to be. Arus has fallen on hard times ever since the evil King Zargon from the neighboring world of Planet Doom came long ago and destroyed everything. Most of the population was killed in the resulting war. The survivors were either taken away as slaves or forced into hiding in the caves, the forest, or the ruins of crumbling cities.**

**However, the pride of the people of Arus has not yet been destroyed and they have begun to rebuild their lives.**

One of the only remaining structures left intact on the planet was the royal palace of Arus: a square steel building made of sharp edges. Unlike other palaces, it was built more for the defense than for the comfort of those that lived within it. If evil threatened, panels along each side of the castle would open to reveal laser cannons and missile launchers. The palace stood like a protective mother carefully guarding the remains of the villages around it.

Everywhere in the village, people were working. Men and young boys wearing dark brown tunics have been working everyday for many days rebuilding their homes. Crumbling stone buildings destroyed in the war with King Zargon were hauled away. The dirt roads were stirred up when horse-drawn wagons arrived hauling freshly cut stone to lay foundations for new construction projects. Women in plain white robes could be seen tilling soil for planting, serving food to the construction workers, cleaning the new buildings already built, tending to children too young to help and any one of dozens of other tasks. Deep down, the people still mourned for their fallen homes and their lost loved ones, but that hurt was pushed aside for the excitement of starting anew.

**Yes, the people of Arus are rejoicing at their liberation. Their planet can once again be the utopia it once was.**

A giant green and black foot crashed down on one of the buildings being rebuilt, scattering bricks and dust and sending all the people running for cover.

**…if it weren't for the constant Robeast attackes.**

The foot was attached to a monster as least one hundred feet high. Its skin was a mesh of black and green interlocking scales. Four thin, multi-jointed arms waved wildly in the air as if it was trying to swat a particularly irksome fly. The monster had no fingers or toes, just hard bone claws sharper than any knife. A pair of antennae twitched on top of an insect's head with two bulging yellow compound eyes.

This was just one of the many creatures called Robeasts that have attacked the peaceful planet of Arus. All the Robeasts come from Planet Doom and are created by Witch Haggar, usually out of innocent people she has captured from other planets.

The insect-like Robeast continued to wreak destruction in its wake as it made its way to the royal palace. Suddenly it stumbled to a halt and looked around as a low piercing roar that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once filled the air.

**Fortunately for the people of Arus, they have a brave group of space explorers ready to defend them: the Voltron Force.**

The Robeast was about to continue its advance toward the palace when it noticed five forms in the distance making their way towards it. They started out as just pinpricks of light, but soon they could be recognized as the five robotic Lions of the mighty Voltron. The Green Lion raced through the trees on a breeze that was the very breath of the forest. The Yellow Lion kicked up a cloud of sand as it ran making it look like the entire desert was following it. The Red Lion erupted out of a distant volcano sending sparks and ash skyward in a brief fireworks display. The Blue Lion leapt gracefully out of the moat surrounding the palace leaving not so much as a ripple in its wake. The Black Lion sat perched on the ramparts of the royal palace itself staring down at the invading monster, daring it to come closer.

Each of these metallic cats was much smaller than the Robeast, but still far larger than any normal lion and each one was piloted by a young space explorer. Keith, the leader of the Voltron Force, surveyed the battlefield from his seat in the Black Lion. Although Keith was only in his early twenties, he had proven himself to be a skilled strategist. He quickly and calmly analyzed his team's options against this latest threat to Arus.

"We'd better stay out of the way of those arms. I bet they're stronger than they look," he said into his intercom. "Pidge, Lance; go for the legs. See if you can knock him down."

The Green Lion was piloted by Pidge, the youngest, but smartest of the team with a specialty in science. Only twelve years of age, he's as capable as any Voltron Force member and often speaks from his heart. Lance is the pilot of the Red Lion; a smooth-talking, joke cracking, ladies man. His reckless nature tends to get him in trouble.

At their commander's order, the Green and Red Lions dove down straight at the monsters legs, skimming low along the ground and firing missiles from the metallic claws of their Lions. The missiles hit the ground by the Robeast's feet, causing it to dance around to avoid the explosions, but it managed to keep its balance. Since the monster was distracted, Pidge and Lance zeroed in on the same leg and hit it head on. Both Lions bounced off uselessly and landed in the rubble of ruined buildings.

"It's like hitting a mountain," said Pidge.

"I don't think we made a single dent in it," observed Lance.

Keith acknowledged his friend's failed attempts grilmly, but the battle was far from over. "Hunk, Allura; let's attack the head. Maybe we can blind it."

The Black Lion roared and leapt off the castle ramparts to join the Yellow and Blue Lions. The Yellow Lion was occupied by Hunk, the muscle of the group. He is the largest, but his bulk is mostly muscle. Still, it would be unwise to stand between him and a meal. He's no dummy and has a soft spot in his heart for children. Allura is the crown princess of Arus, daughter of the late King Alfor. Although she is heir to the throne, she defers to Keith's leadership as a Voltron Force member and highly respects all of her teammates. She pilots the Blue Lion as fiercely as any warrior.

The three remaining Lions were running in a tight "V" formation with Keith out in front. The robeast looked to the approaching felines with its unblinking compound eyes. When the Voltron Force was no more than one hundred feet away, the robeast's eyes started glowing and a barrage of machine gun-like laser blasts shot out. Black Lion caught the full blow, stumbling to the ground in a smoking heap, but Yellow and Blue Lions managed to dodge out of the way.

"Keith, are you all right?" cried Allura. "Come in, Keith."

"Speak to me pal; say something," begged Hunk.

Keith's voice came over the intercom, shaken, but strong. "I'm fine. Keep up the attack."

Their original attack had been disrupted, so Hunk and Allura were now attacking the creature from opposite sides. The robeast tried to use its Eye Blasts again, but once it aimed for one Lion the other would come in to strike its head. Things only got worse for the evil beast when Red and Green Lions rejoined the battle. Lance and Pidge weaved in and out of the robeast's flailing arms and swiped at the insect's chest with sharp steel claws. It didn't do much damage, but it did distract the robeast from firing at the Yellow and Blue Lions. More attacks to the head equaled a very dizzy robeast.

After a few minutes of rest, Black Lion managed to launch itself into the air and get back in the game. "How goes the battle, team?" asked Keith.

"Not so good. I don't think we're doing much damage, chief," replied Pidge.

"Then it's time to bring in the big guy," said Keith. "Get ready to form Voltron! Activate interlock. Dynatherms connected. Infracells up. Mega-Thrusters are go!"

Keith, Pidge, Lance, Allura, and Hunk all cried in unison. "Let's go Voltron Force!"

The five Lioins of Voltron rose up high into the air with Black Lion leading the way and two Lions on either side. Lightning crackled around each Lion, reflected in the metal surface making it look like the Lions had become the lightning itself. Almost automatically, each Lion began to transform themselves. Tails disappeared and legs were folded up in preparation for the robotic defender. Each Lion was only a head and body now.

"Form feet and legs!"

The Blue and Yellow Lions bent themselves into "L" shapes and attached themselves to the lower part of the Black Lion.

"Form arms and body!"

Now the Red and Green Lions attached themselves to the upper part of the Black Lion. The five metal cats were now one creature with a human-like body and a Lion head. Then, the jaws of the Black Lion opened wide and an expressionless human face appeared.

"And I'll form the head!"

Voltron was now complete, ready to do battle with anything that dared to threaten the safety of Planet Arus. The Lion's heads that were Voltron's hands and feet roared with the power that coursed through their silicon veins.

The insect robeast gazed dispassionately at the defender of Arus. It charged straight for Voltron; each footstep was an earthquake to the innocent villagers witnessing the battle. The robeast tried to smash Voltron with its top pair of arms, but the Red and Green Lion arms of the mighty robot caught the attack in midair. The bug slashed at Voltron with its bottom arms, but the claws were not sharp enough to slice through Voltron's armor.

"This bug's just a little too close for comfort," said Lance. Voltron tossed the robeast with a judo throw. The creature landed with a tremendous thud.

"Form Blazing Sword!"

Voltron's hands came together, then slowly pulled apart revealing a glowing strand of white hot metal being pulled like taffy. The glowing ceased and Voltron held in his right hand his most powerful weapon, the Blazing Sword: a silver longsword with a blue hilt. Voltron rushed at the robeast, which had risen unsteadily to its feet, the Blazing Sword aimed straight at its chest. The robeast seemed to regain its senses. It brought its arms up to its chest, presumably to protect itself. It was no use though; its arms were much too thin. The Blazing Sword slipped right between the robeast's arms and skewered the evil creature like shish kebab.

"All right," cried Hunk.

"We did it," said Allura.

"Good job team," congratulated Keith.

"Scratch yet another of Hagger's robotic pests," said Lance dismissively, but the celebration was a little premature. Even though the robeast had been run through, it was still very much alive. Its yellow eyes glowed menacingly along with all four of its claws. A think laser beam shot out from the robeast's arms and hit Voltron full on. The five pilots were thrashed and bashed against their seats as Voltron was forced backwards and finally collapsed on the ground like a stringless puppet.

Keith lay on the floor; his body bruised in so many places and blood from numerous cuts streamed down his forehead. He could hardly move, but he forced himself up to check on the fate of the Voltron Force. "Come in. Come in. Is everyone alright? Hello, is anyone still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," said Pidge.

"I'm all right, don't worry," assured Allura.

"I've had better days," complained Lance.

"A little banged up, but otherwise just fine," said Hunk.

The replies were faint, but Keith breathed a sigh of relief when he heard all his friends check in. His relief was short lived though, when he looked out his cockpit window.

"Oh, no."

The robeast was still on its feet stumbling clumsily toward the smoking husk that was now Voltron. Its face was expressionless, but from the way its limbs jerked as it walked, Keith guessed that it was in great pain. Not surprising, really, but the poor creature could not stop; it could only obey its programming. Keith couldn't be bothered with a lot of sympathy for the robeast at the moment.

"We gotta get back up," said Keith. He dragged himself into the pilot's seat. "Princess, Hunk, can you stand us back up?"

The response was negative from both the Blue and Yellow Lions. The controls refused to respond. Voltron's arms weren't having any better luck. Keith tried his own controls, but they weren't working either. It was then that Keith noticed a flashing warning light on his console. He read the words "CHECK DYNATHERM", but before he could figure out what that meant, a monstrous view filled his window.

The robeast stood over Voltron, swaying greatly. Up close, Keith could see a think black fluid pouring from the gaping hole made by the Blazing Sword. The creature brought all four arms into its chest again in preparation to fire its laser beam. In his weakened state, Voltron would surely be destroyed, but there was nothing the Voltron Force could do. The robeast's claws glowed ominously and Keith shut his eyes in preparation of the blast, but it never came. Keith opened his eyes again to see the robeast with its arms limp at its sides and its head cocked as if trying to catch a faint noise. In truth, the insect was listening to the witch Hagger's mental commands. The robeast immediately turned away from Voltron, entered its coffin-shaped spacecraft and rocketed off of planet Arus.

Keith could hardly believe their good fortune, but knew that this fight was not over. He had a brief glimpse of soldiers and rescue vehicles streaming out of the palace heading for Voltron before his strength gave out and he sagged unconscious in his seat.


	2. Basic Spraining

**At that very moment, Tony, Penny, and the rest of the Super Stars are in their training room perfecting their teamwork skills.**

The Toon Town palace actually had several training rooms, each one suited for a different type of training. The royal guards and palace foot soldiers shared a large training room located one floor under the main part of the palace, next to the guards' quarters and the armory. The stone walls were covered in weapons. If a person started right at the entrance and walked all the way around the room back to the door, they'd be able to see the evolution of the weapon beginning with the steel swords and shields from the Middle Ages right up to laser cannons and energy weapons far more advanced than anything the Sci-Fi channel ever saw. A few targets at one end of the room provided target practice for the less powerful projectile weapons, like the crossbows and pistols. Lasers, cannons and such had to be used outside.

The Super Stars had two training rooms all to themselves. The walls in one room (called the Soft Room) were covered with thick cushions like the type used in public school gym class when they did gymnastics. The fighting style of the Stars tended to involve a lot of jumping, flipping, flying, and tossing and the cushions helped to keep injuries at a minimum. Behind the cushions were steel walls three feet thick. One other thing the Stars did in battle was use plenty of powerful energy blasts and their training room had to be able to stand up to that.

The Star's second training room, located in Acme Labs, was much more hard core. It resembled the X-Men's Danger Room and thus it was dubbed the Deadly Room. Steel walls even thicker and tougher than the walls in the Soft Room created an almost airtight environment. There were hundred of concealed compartments in the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. Within those compartments were steel tentacles, laser cannons, machine guns, killer robots, flying swords, swinging axes, retractable spikes, and dozens of other hazards. In the center of the ceiling was a glass globe that was the control center for the Deadly Room. Different training programs could be entered into the Deadly Room computer which would activate certain hazards that the Super Stars would have to either avoid or defeat. The room even had a holographic projection system so the setting of the combat could be changed. The Stars could train in any environment, including the frozen tundra of Greenland or on the sand beaches of Rio de Janeiro.

Today, the Super Stars were working in the Soft Room. They were all wearing jogging pants or shorts, short sleeve shirts and sneakers. Jim, Tom, and Mary were standing off to one side as them watched a blindfolded Tony facing Penny – at least he assumed so.

Penny was lecturing Tony on the purpose of today's training. "This is a trust exercise. You're going to let yourself fall forward and I'm going to catch you."

Tony was just a little apprehensive about it. "This isn't going to be like when Lucy helps Charlie Brown with his football kicking practice is it?"

"Tony, you've got to learn to trust your teammates," said Penny. "Trusting your friends in battle will keep you from getting killed."

"But not trusting them right now may keep me from getting embarrassed," retorted Tony.

Jim, Tom, and Mary all put their hands over their mouths to hide their snickers. Penny shot them one dirty look before addressing Tony again. She was very impatient with anyone or anything that disrupted training.

"Just do the exercise, Tony. Fall forward and I'll catch you."

Tony closed his eyes out of reflex, even though he already couldn't see. Slowly, he started to lean forward, bending a little at the waist. He raised his heels until all his weight was resting on this toes. Tony had to use a lot of willpower not to throw his arms out for balance. Finally, taking a deep breath, he pushed with his toes and felt himself falling rapidly. He had no sooner started falling when two arms grabbed him around the chest and kept him from hitting the ground.

"There, that wasn't so bad was it," said Penny as she pushed Tony back on his feet. She waved at Jim who tiptoed over to Tony's side. The mats on the floor prevented Tony from hearing Jim's approach. "Let's try it again. This time I want you to fall to the left."

"But, you're still…"

"Ah, ah, ah. Tony. You must trust me," admonished Penny.

Tony looked like he was going to say something, but then relaxed and nodded. Again he started to lean, this time putting his weight on his left foot for just a second before slightly raising his right foot, shifting his weight, falling over, and landing with a dull thud on the floor mats. Tony rolled onto his back and pulled his blindfold off to see Penny rolling her eyes at him and Jim laughing hysterically.

"I meant MY left," said Penny, as if it was Tony's own fault he was on the ground.

"That was perfect," said Jim through his laughter. Tom and Mary were also laughing at him.

"Yeah, really great," said Tony as he picked himself up. He held the blindfold out to Penny. "Okay, your turn. You fall over and I'll catch you."

Penny gave Tony a What-am-I-an-idiot? look and said, "I think that's enough trust for one day. It's time to practice some battle moves."

"Great! I love practicing moves," said Tom, jumping up and down. "Ooh, ooh, can we do number 14?"

"We can't do number 14. Pineapples are out of season," said Mary. "How about number 47?"

"Oh, no," said Jim, shaking his head. "Last time we did number 47, I nearly got a hernia carrying that stupid cow. Let's just do number 24."

"Fine," said Penny. "That's one that really needs some work anyway. Get into position."

The teenagers grabbed their weapons from a rack on one side of the room. Jim took his green staff which could extend to any length he desired. Tom had a mace which could be used like a club or the spiked ball could pop out and swing around on a chain. Mary's pair of sai may have been short, but they were as sharp as any sword. Tony, of course, had the Toon Sword: the ancient golden shortsword which let him tap into the vast powers of every hero in the Toon World.

Before grabbing her own samari sword, Penny stepped over to a small console on the wall near the door. There was a small screen on this console as well as several black buttons. Penny pushed one button and a circular hatch opened up in the middle of the floor. A wooden dummy with no face rose up from the opening. The dummy wore black armor which was old and dented from hard use. There were bull's-eyes painted on the dummy's shoulders, chest, knees, back, and head and each one had multiple cuts, burns, or bangs where the Super Star's aim had struck true.

"Everyone, ready?" asked Penny. She was on the dummy's left facing Tom who was on the right. Jim and Mary were both at the back of the room standing behind Tony who was directly in front of the mock enemy.

Jim spun his staff in his right hand. "Ready." None of them had transformed; they usually didn't in the Soft Room. Transforming multiplied their normal physical strength and the training in the Soft Room was meant to enhance that normal strength.

Everyone looked at Tony to give the signal.

"Super Stars GO!"

Jim threw his whirling staff right at Tony. At that same instant, Mary starting running right behind the staff and leapt into the air. When she landed on the very center of the spinning staff, it would give an extra boost so she could jump even higher and strike the enemy. However, she landed on the front edge of the staff and lost her balance. Her foot pushed the staff and sent it spinning back to plow Jim in the stomach. He doubled over, unable to breathe. Mary fell to the floor. One of her sai spun from her hand and sunk into the floor in front of Tom, who was now running towards the dummy with his mace raised. He didn't see the sai and tripped over it. As he hit the floor, the spiked ball on his mace shot out and hit Penny who was also running toward the dummy. She went down too. Tony was the only one who managed to keep his footing and deliver his strike right through the dummy's wooden skull.

After pulling his sword out of the wooden head, Tony looked at his fallen teammates. "Were we supposed to be doing number 24B?"

"No, we weren't supposed to be doing number 24B," said Jim in a high mocking voice. "Ninja girl over there screwed up her jump. This is her fault."

Mary scowled at Jim. "Your throw was late. That staff wasn't where it was supposed to be."

Penny pointed at Tom. "And your mace misfired and ruined my charge."

"I slipped on Mary's sai."

"See, it is your fault."

"No it's not."

"Whoa, before Jerry Springer has his final thought," said Tony because his friends were about one second away from blows, "how about if we calm down and try the move again?"

But, after a half hour of practice, the Super Stars still couldn't seem to pull off the battle move. They were all sitting on a bench gasping for air and sweating up a storm.

"Man, what is our problem today?" asked Tony.

"It's not YOUR problem, Tony, it's OUR problem," said Mary, indicating Jim, Tom, Penny, and herself.

"It's true," said Tom. "We are not really very good at working together."

Tony was truly bewildered. "How could you guys not be good at working as a team? You were fighting Claw long before I came along."

"No, we've been losing to Claw long before you came along," corrected Jim with a grimace.

"We told you before, Tony," said Mary. "Without a Toon Master, we didn't have much success against Dr. Claw and his M.A.D. agents. We were little more than a holding action and that's being generous."

Jim's voice had turned bitter and self mocking. "The royal army was needed here at the palace to ward off any attack from M.A.D., so it was just the four of us and whatever troops could be spared."

Mary tried to keep her voice level though it threatened to crack in grief at the memory of those horrible losing battles. "The other Toon heroes tried to help, of course, but most had problems on their own worlds. Claw was laying siege to several of their planets, plus there was the everyday villains to fight. All in all, we just didn't have the strength to win."

"We didn't win," said Penny harshly, "because we didn't spend enough time practicing and mastering our moves."

"No," said Jim, jumping up and stalking over to Penny. "We didn't win because we practiced too much and were too tired when it finally came time to battle."

"I thought we didn't win because I got my head stuck in that banister," said Tom from the floor.

"That was only the reason for that one battle, Tom," said Mary.

"Those three battles you mean," said Penny, rolling her eyes. "He was stuck in that thing for, like, a week."

"Yeah, that was uncomfortable," said Tom seriously. "I couldn't go out for pizza, I couldn't see the TV and I had to go to the bathroom by…"

"Upp, upp, upp," said Tony, holding up his hands to forestall Tom. "There is absolutely no need to go into detail." Tony rested his chin on his knuckles, thinking hard about his team's lack of teamwork. "I just don't get what the problem is, especially after all the teamwork and trust building work you guys must have done."

There was utter silence. Jim, Tom, Penny, and Mary all looked at each other with looks of confusion mixed with a little guilt. Tony looked over when he realized no one was agreeing with him. "You guys did do all that trust building stuff before I came along, right?"

"Well…," said Jim. No one else ventured an answer.

"I guess that's a 'No'," said Tony.

"Our training consisted mainly of tactics, weapons, and studying Claw's weaknesses," explained Penny. "Those were the most important things."

"What about when you weren't training?" asked Tony.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what did you guys do when you weren't training or fighting? You must have had some free time."

"Precious little, but yeah, we had some," admitted Jim.

"Well, what did you guys do then?"

Jim answered first, "We all had our own hobbies. I fixed up old cars and battle vehicles and I volunteered sometimes down in the local auto shop. Remember Speed Buggy's Garage, Tony? That's where you helped me fix up that old Mach 3 engine."

"I love to walk down along the beach and just watch the waves for hours," said Mary dreamily. "It's so calming. You know Tony, I think that sand castle we made last week is still standing."

Tom thought for a second. "I'd usually be down in the gym or in ACME Labs. They gave me my own corner laboratory after I blew up six other ones. And, Tony's been helping me with my ongoing experiment to see how many times I can hit my head against the wall without blacking out. My current record for a steel wall is seventeen times."

Tony looked expectantly at Penny. "Well? What did you used to do, Princess?"

Penny hesitated before abruptly spitting out, "Oh, this is silly. I can't see what this had anything to do with…"

"Penny?" said Tony, his voice rising threateningly. He wasn't going to accept that evasive answer. Of all the Super Stars, Penny was by far the most distant with him.

"Well…," said Penny. "As you know, I'm into computers and robotics and…and I like music. I've been trying to learn the guitar." She seemed almost embarrassed to admit it.

"See, now that wasn't so hard," mocked Tony. "Now, do you guys do these hobbies alone?"

"No," said Mary at once. "We spend time with you, Tony."

"…but not each other?" asked Tony with a sad smile. Tony's friends, at first confused by this question, soon came to realize that they had indeed spent very little time together outside of training and battle.

"Well, maybe we haven't hung out with each other to much, but what's your point?" wondered Mary.

"That is exactly my point," Tony responded with enthusiasm. "If you're not friends with each other, how can you possibly trust one another? I know John and Crystal back home have always got my back, no matter what."

Penny stood up and turned her back to the others. "Yes, well, if we ever need to steal gourmet chocolates from a teacher's lounge, we'll be sure to call them."

"No can prove that was us," said Tony. "Besides, you're missing the point."

Penny acted like she hadn't heard him. "Come on, let's try Number 24 one more time." Jim, Mary, and Tom wearily got up off the bench, but Tony stayed sitting for just a moment. He knew the Stars still didn't completely trust each other, so the move still wouldn't work right. Nonetheless, he slowly got up and took his position in front of the practice dummy. He barely had a chance to yell "Go!" when there was a call from the Soft Room door.

"I'm afraid practice time will have to wait kids." Standing in the doorway was Penny's father, King Magnus of Toon World. He was a tall, middle aged man with flecks of grey in his hair and a short white beard. His robes of gold and red looked totally out of place in the gymnasium. The light sparkled off the jewels in his gold crown. "We've had an urgent distress call from Arus. The Voltron Force has suffered quite a serious defeat and I understand that Voltron is badly damaged. You need to get to Arus before there is another attack."

"Let's go Stars," called Penny as she lead the way out of the training room, Tom, Jim, and Mary close behind. Tony was the last one to head for the door, but he stopped when the king called him back.

"Don't be too hard on them, Tony."

Tony just blinked at the king. "Wha?"

"You can't become close friends overnight. It's going to take time."

Recognition flashed in Tony's eyes. "Your Magesty, how much of that conversation did you hear?"

The king shrugged. "Enough. You have to understand, Tony, the Super Stars were thrust into this war much sooner than they should have been. We had expected the previous Super Stars to train them for a few more years before they went into battle, but after the final confrontation at MAD Mountain years ago…" The king trailed off and seemed to gather himself before continuing. "…well, that obviously wasn't an option anymore."

"I don't think it's their lack of skill that's the problem," argued Tony.

"I agree," said King Magnus. "Just be aware that the Stars have not had the benefit of the relatively carefree childhood you have enjoyed. Each of them has suffered serious personal losses and each of them deals with that pain in their own way. Give them time."

Jim's voice drifted down the hallway. "Tony, are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there," Tony shouted back. He stepped through the doorway, but turned back to look at the king. "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but they've had lots of time before I got here. They're just going to have to get over this hump and learn to be friends whether they like it or not."

Tony ran down the hallway to catch up to his teammates leaving the king standing in the Soft Room. "Well, Tony," said the king, hopefully, "I hope you're the one who can give them the push they need."


	3. Arrival on Arus

Tony had changed quickly out of his training outfit back into his jeans and T-shirt. He caught up with the Super Stars (also changed out of their training clothes) at Toon Force One. The luxurious star cruiser had already been fueled and prepped for launch. Tony had just barely gotten onboard as the engines fired up and the ship gathered speed as it left the atmosphere of Toon Town. The large planet at the center of the Toon World shrunk down to the size of a marble in the cruiser's windows as Tony made his way into the plush living room area of the ship.

Tony had barely stepped inside the room when Jim appeared right in front of him, his face just inches from Tony's.

"What happened? You almost missed the ship! Now we'll be late!"

Tony tried to ease his face away from Jim. "Calm down, Jim. We'll be there in plenty of time."

Jim just threw up his hands in frustration, stormed over to an easy chair and sat down with his arms crossed. Tony was a little confused; usually it was Penny who got mad at him for being late. Jim's right leg was bouncing up and down and he kept glancing out the window at the starry backdrop of space.

"What's his problem?" asked Tony to the room at large.

Mary, who was lounging on the couch, answered, "Oh, Jim's just really looking forward to getting to Arus."

"We had to convince him to wait for you, you know", added Tom.

"I didn't know you liked the planet Arus so much", Tony said to Jim.

"It's not Arus," said Jim, leaning forward in the chair. "It's Voltron. That's what I want to see: that beautiful blending of titanium chrome and exquisite silicon wiring, the ultimate combination of sleek agility and raw robotic destructiveness." Jim sighed blissfully as Tony nervously backed away a couple of steps.

"Jim is very interested in Voltron," said Tom.

"Obsessed is more the word," murmured Penny.

"You don't understand," insisted Jim. "I have studied machines my entire life. I have a degree in Advanced Robotic Engineering from Whatsamatta University. I have been over, around, and through every piece of equipment in ACME Labs and I can say with supreme authority that there is no machine more intriguing or flawless than Voltron."

"It can't be that flawless," argued Tom. "It got beat in that battle. It got smashed. It got pulverized. It got…"

"Okay!" shouted Jim, scowling at Tom while the others snickered. "So it's almost, roughly, more or less 99% flawless. But that fact that Voltron is broken makes this the perfect mission for me."

"How so?" asked Penny.

"I'll finally be able to examine my favorite robot up close. This will make me the envy of all the mechanics in Toon Town and if that wasn't enough, wait till I tell them I actually got to repair Voltron."

"You?" asked Tony. "What makes you think you can fix it?"

Jim waived his hand dismissively. "Please. I've read all the textbooks Voltron is mentioned in and examined all the blueprints on the internet. I've memorized the serial number of every bolt within his metallic chasse. I can fix anything that's gone wrong."

"…except the dynatherm."

The Super Stars had quickly traversed the Toon World, all the while listening to Jim's boastful claims about his intricate knowledge of the Voltron robot, and had landed on the Planet Arus in record time. They stood now in the main control center of the Altairian palace, also known as the Castle of Lions, with the royal advisor, Coran, a tall, thin, and, despite his constant no-nonsense demeanor, a very caring individual. He was quite old (his hair and mustache firmly grey in color), but very wise, having acted as advisor to the royal family of Arus for years. He was commander of the entire Castle of Lions crew, including clean up and maintenance crews, and possessed a considerable amount of technical knowledge. Having known the Princess Allura from birth, he tends to be a bit overprotective, but certainly not to the same degree as Nanny

Nanny was a short, portly woman; younger than Coran, but still probably old enough to be grandmother to any one of the Stars. Her determination to keep Allura out of danger often compels her to put herself in danger, forcing the Princess to be Nanny's protector. Nanny had not joined the Super Stars and Coran in the control room (Castle Control), instead opting to remain in the hospital wing tending to the five unconscious members of the Voltron Force.

Keith, Pidge, Lance, Allura, and Hunk lay in separate hospital healing chambers, seemingly only asleep. Their uniforms had been removed and now wore only those stupid gowns with the back flap that doesn't close all the way. (They can build giant robot lions, but they can't make a hospital gown that covers the entire body.) Each pilot had several small electrodes attached to their bodies with thin wires running back to machines that blipped in tune to their heartbeats and flashed numbers more confusing than the New York Stock Exchange.

They had received serious internal injuries from the Robeast's attacks, but it was nothing the doctors of Arus couldn't cure. The problem was that it would take some time to completely cure the Voltron Force, maybe four or five days. Coran had been able to determine that King Zargon would be able to fix his Robeast and send him back to Arus to finish the job in only three days. Once this had been discovered, Coran had sent out a distress beacon to the Galaxy Garrison, the government body who had sent the Voltron Force – with the exception of Allura – to Arus in the first place. Unfortunately, a temporary replacement team of pilots would not be able to arrive on Arus before the three day deadline and anyhow, no one at Galaxy Garrison knew how to fix Voltron. In desperation, Coran had contacted the Toon Palace asking for help.

All this had happened yesterday. Now the Super Stars were faced with the duel problem of getting both Voltron and its pilots in fighting condition in just two days time. Plus, they had just discovered that Jim didn't know as much as he thought he did.

"What do you mean, you can't fix it?" asked Mary incredulously. "You bored us all silly the entire way over here bragging about how you knew everything about Voltron?"

"Yeah, everything except the dynatherm," said Jim, not looking the least bit humbled. "No one knows what the dynatherm is. It's been the big mystery of the Voltron Communication Circle for years."

"The Voltron Communication Circle?" asked Tony, raising his eyebrows.

"Jim and the two other geek mechanics he chats with online," explained Penny.

Jim scowled and spoke with firm devotion. "It happens to be an unauthorized sub-commission of the Toon Mechanic's Guild; formed in order to study the genius mechanical constructs of the greatest fighting robot in Toon history."

"…and because none of you can get a date on Saturday night," added Penny smugly.

Coran brought the conversation back on track, narrowly avoiding yet another argument between the two teenage heroes. "Jim is correct that the piece of equipment known as the dynatherm has been the subject of some debate. Even Pidge, our resident mechanical genius, cannot say for sure what it is."

Jim was eager to share his own ideas. "Cyberwrench856 keeps insisting that it's the device that controls the mechanism that locks the Lion's legs in place when they combine, but I've always theorized that it was some kind of cooling system that prevented Voltron from overheating during particularly long battles."

"Whatever it is, it must be pretty import to have its own warning light," said Penny.

"Do you have any ideas what it could be, Tony?" asked Tom.

Tony crossed his arms and shook his head. He knew a little bit about how Voltron worked, but no cartoon episode ever bothered to explain the inner machinations of the robot Lions. Tony had to admit that even if there had been such an episode, he probably wouldn't have watched it; it sounded boring. "All I know is that it is part of Keith's whole routine when they combine Voltron. You know, he says 'Activate interlock…dynatherms connected…infracells up…' and so on."

Coran looked at Tony with a puzzled expression. "How do you know what Keith says during the transformation of Voltron?"

Tony's eyes widened as he realized that, as the Toon World citizen he was pretending to be, he really shouldn't have known that. The Super Stars had warned him that the average Toon did not look upon humans from Earth favorably. To protect himself and his home dimension, it was best if he pretended to be a full blooded Toon and part of that rouse included not revealing any information that a normal Toon wouldn't know, but which he did through Earth television.

Tony had blurted out Keith's line without even thinking. He had to think quickly for a response. "Well…uh…you know…"

Fortunately, Penny's thinking was much quicker. In a calm voice, without even blinking, she explained, "We showed Tony some recordings we had of Voltron's earlier fights so that, as Toon Master, he'd be more familiar with Voltron and Planet Doom. Keith's speech was undoubtedly on one of the recordings."

Coran accepted that without question. Recording past heroic battles was common practice throughout the Toon World. Tony smiled his thanks to Penny, who gave him a stern look as a silent reprimand to be more careful in the future.

Jim had either missed or totally ignored Tony's slip-up. He was staring hard at the center communication screen in the room which showed many Castle Control workers crawling over and into Voltron. After the disastrous battle, Voltron had been lifted to the back of the Castle of Lions and manually separated into its five parts. Those parts had not resumed their Lion forms, however, and the many gashs in the robot's armor made it look like Voltron had been whipped, drawn and quartered. Jim stared with blatant jealousy at the workers going in and out of the robot. He was practically drooling.

"Well, since no one here know how to fix Voltron or even what a dynatherm is, there is only one solution as I see it," announced Jim.

"Oh?" asked Mary suspiciously. "And what might that be?"

Jim turned an excited face towards the group. "I will have to take Voltron apart piece by piece in order to locate the dynatherm."

"What?" exclaimed Mary.

"That is entirely out of the question," said Coran angrily. "I will not allow you to disassemble our protector, especially when danger from Planet Doom is fast approaching."

Jim put his hands together in supplication to Coran. "I wouldn't have to take the whole robot apart just one of the Lions; preferably the Black Lion. Please, oh please. I've always wanted to study Voltron."

"Jim this is not a science project," said Penny. "You are not taking anything apart."

Jim slumped in defeated misery. "Well, how else are we going to fix him?"

"Well, I suppose there is always the Owner's Manual," said Coran. His head disappeared underneath the control console and when he reappeared, he was carrying a huge tome covered in a faded yellow dust jacket with a spider web of cracks coving the paper. Coran dropped the book roughly on the console causing a storm of dust to flee from between the pages. It had to be more than three thousand pages thick. Tony had seen thinner encyclopedias.

"That's the Owner's Manual?" asked Tom in stark disbelief.

"No. That's volume one of the Owner's Manual," replied Coran. "We'll look in here first while a forklift is prepared for the other volumes."

With great reluctance, Tony stepped forward and taking a deep breath like he was going off the high dive, opened the book to the first page. A couple of moths flew out of the book, flying in unsteady circles above everyone's head. Tony blew more dust off the book and said, "We have to do whatever it takes to fix Voltron. Let's get to it." He sat right down and began to read.

**Five minutes later.**

"Well, that's about all I can stand," said Tony as he stood up and closed the manual once more.

"What?" cried Mary. "Tony you didn't even finish the first page. How can you give up so easily?"

"Hey," said Tony defensively, "I'm a ninth-grade student who reads at a seventh-grade level with a third-grade attention span. What do you expect?"

"Obviously, you taking this assignment seriously is out of the question," remarked Penny.

"Obviously," agreed Tony.

"It would take years to read through this thing anyway," said Jim. He pushed the manual off the console. The book made a large indentation in the metal floor when it landed. "I say we go back to Plan A: me ripping though Voltron until I find the dynatherm."

"No!" shouted everyone.

"Alright, let's think," said Mary. "Who would know the most about Voltron's system besides the Voltron Force."

"The person who knew the inner workings of Voltron best was King Alfor, of course: the previous ruler of Planet Arus," said Coran. King Alfor was the Princess Allura's father; a kind and loving ruler. He fought against King Zarkon years ago when Arus was at the height of its power and beauty. He was the one who designed the Voltron robot. Years ago, King Alfor battled against King Zarkon and his forces in the Valley of Zohar on Planet Arus. He was tragically killed on that day. To this day, his body rests in a royal tomb beneath the palace.

"Well, we can't get any information from him," said Tom. Tony knew that Tom's statement was not completely correct. Tony had seen on episodes of the Voltron cartoon where King Alfor, always eager to fight evil and assist his daughter, often appeared to Allura in the form of a ghostly mentor when situations were dire. The young hero was sure that the king would be able to immediately point them to the fastest way to fix Voltron, however Tony only knew of instances where King Alfor had appeared to Allura and no one else. It was unlikely they could count on a sudden appearance now.

"There must be someone else who could help us," said Tony. "Didn't anyone help King Alfor build Voltron?"

Coran was a little surprised by the question. "Why yes, of course. Almost two hundred workers from the bordering villages aided in the robot's actual construction. Their efforts were entirely devoted to manual labor, however. None of them were instructed on the circuitry or instruments requiring careful handling. Our best chance would be the king's senior design team. They worked more closely with King Alfor than anyone."

"Then let's find them and ask them for help," said Mary.

"I'm afraid that is all but imposible," replied Coran sadly. "When King Zarkon attacked Arus after the king's death, he went straight for the design team first, in the hopes of disabling Voltron. Most of them were killed and those who survived fled to the surrounding landscape. We have no idea if they made it to safety or where they may be if they did."

Tom slowly shook his head. "They leave the palace and don't even bother to give a forwarding address; some people are just so inconsiderate."

"At least one of those scientists might be still alive," said Mary slowly. "But how would we find them? They could be anywhere on the planet's surface."

"How about if we knock on everybody's door and ask if they've seen any scientists running around?" asked Tom.

"That is a stupid idea," reprimanded Tony.

"Okay, then let's reconfigurize the scanner doohickey to trackify the genetic-flavored signature of the scientist-type people; just like we did with the Glitterbots" asked Tom.

"Now that idea is less stupid," admitted Tony, "even though you said it in an incredibly stupid way."

"A good idea, yes," said Penny, "but we don't need to reconfigure anything. Mike programmed some new protocols into the Toon Force One scanners so that now we can search for anything we want."

Jim went to stand next to Coran by the control console. "I should be able to access the ships scanners from here. Although I still think my idea was better," he added under his breath. A few quick taps on the keyboard were enough to bring the Toon Force One radar onscreen. "All I need is a sample of their DNA." The way Jim said it; you'd think he was asking for a glass of water.

"How the heck are we supposed to get a DNA sample if they're not here?" asked Tony.

Coran came to the rescue. "Not to worry. Under King Alfor's rule, it was standard procedure to digitize a DNA sample of every palace worker and store it in the computer files. This was done in case imposters tried to enter the Castle of Lions." Jim made way for Coran at the keyboard. It took the old advisor a few minutes to find the well buried file of DNA samples. After that, it was a simple matter of uploading them into the Toon Force One computers.

The Super Stars watched as the entire planet of Arus enfolded on the screen before them. Most of the planet was uninhabited, thanks to King Zarkon. Only a few small villages had dared to spring up outside the protective radius of the Castle of Lions. Three red dots were blinking on the digital map: one deep within the western forest, one in the vast expanse of desert to the east, and one within the treacherous northern mountains.

"Those," said Jim, referring to the blinking dots, "are the locations of the only Voltron designers left alive."

"Only three?" asked Mary, disappointed.

"It would appear so," said Coran, also a little crestfallen. "Still, we should consider ourselves lucky that any are still alive at all. I'll send a royal escort to each location at once, but I fear our troops will not be able to find the designers and return them to the palace by the time King Zargon's robeast returns."

"Better leave this to us, Coran," said Tony. "We can get to all three locations and back in no time with Toon Force One."

Jim was forced to bust Tony's bubble of confidence. "Uh Tony, Toon Force One is a starship. It's designed for space travel…in space…where there's no air."

"So?" Tony didn't see why that should be a problem.

"Tony, when travelling quickly through the atmosphere, the air itself pushes against the hull of the ship," explained Penny. "That resistance causes damage to the ship's armor. Haven't you ever seen how a spaceship heats up during reentry?"

Not in person, but Tony had seen the Apollo 13 movie. He knew what Penny was taking about.

"If we travel on the planet in a ship that's not designed from atmospheric travel," continued Penny, "we run the risk of becoming one giant fireball."

"So what do we do?" asked the Toon Master. No sooner had he finished asking the question, when his wrist communicator started beeping. Mike's face appeared on it.

"I may have a solution for you, if you all would kindly make your way to Toon Force One."

Tony, the Super Stars and Coran all filed out of the castle gates to where Toon Force One was parked. As directed by Mike, Jim opened the back bay doors of the ship and down the ramp rolled three vehicles, all of them gleaming and sparking like new in the afternoon sunlight. First was a green dune buggy with orange, blue, and purple stripes painted on the sides and tail. The back tires were twice as thick as the front ones and twin exhaust pipes belched orange flame into the air. Next was a six-wheeled grey van with a blue metal ridge along the top, like a backbone. Finally, there was a silver motorcycle with gold and red racing stripes on the sides. The cockpit of the cycle was encased in a tinted glass windshield.

"Say hello to Sand Trap, Crash N' Thrash, and Jet Threat; your Key Force Vehicles," said Mike.

"Whoa, so cool," shouted Tom.

"Way past cool," agreed Tony. "Dibs on the motorcycle." Tony ran his hands along the streamlined metal of the bike. It was a little like seeing the Toon Sword for the first time; the vehicles looked ordinary enough, but Tony could almost feel a hidden power deep within.

"These cars aren't made just for driving," said Mike's voice from Tony's wrist. "The special keys are inside. When you find yourselves in a battle, which will inevitably happen, just activate the Key Force battle mode and look out bad guys."

"We should be able to gather the designers easily with these vehicles. Thanks Mike," said Mary.

Jim had momentarily forgotten his obsession with Voltron at the appearance of three brand new machines. "Oh, wow. I can't believe Mike kept these a secret from me. I would have loved to work on them." Jim popped the hood of the dune buggy and started examining the engine. "Whoa! A Mach 5 engine! I need to take this out and get a closer look when we get back. You know, I bet I could interchange this with a XLR 4000 engine and…"

"Must you take everything apart just to see how it works, Jim," interrupted Penny. "Can't you think about anything besides machines for five minutes?"

"I don't know; can you stop lecturing people for five minutes?" retorted Jim.

Tony rolled his eyes and ignoring Penny and Jim, directed his attention to his newest toy. At Tony's touch, Jet Threat's windshield slid open and the young hero made himself comfortable in the padded seat. Digital gauges and blank radar screens looked up at Tony from the dashboard, but his attention was drawn to a large black key already in the ignition. He turned the key and the motorcycle immediately roared to life. "Oh yeah," whispered Tony.

Mary directed Tom over to Sand Trap. "Let's take this one. I just love that color."

Tony revved the motorcycle's engine a couple more times before saying to Mary and Tom, "You guys try to find the engineer in the desert while I search the mountains. Penny and Jim, you…" Tony stopped in mid-sentence. His two friends were still shouting at each other.

"Penny, Jim; you two search the forest," said Tony.

Neither one gave any indication that they had heard Tony.

"Guys?" said Tony, getting iritated.

There was still no response.

"GUYS!"

Penny and Jim froze and stared at Tony with wide eyes.

"You. Van. Forest. Stay in contact," said Tony in clipped tones. He put on the silver helmet he found in the cockpit and peeled out down the path to the surrounding village. Mary and Tom gave Penny and Jim only a brief glance before driving off in Sand Dune.

Penny and Jim stood embarrassed for a few moments until Jim nudged Penny with his elbow. "Looks like it's just you and me, Princess."

Silently the two teenagers made their way to the van while Coran stepped back within the castle walls. None of them noticed two small objects sneaking out of the confines of the Castle of Lions and heading in opposite directions. One object was a hideous mutant of a creature: a black eyeball covered in blue fur with bat-like wings and two scaly talons. It flew just a short distance until it was well away from the castle walls and the village and then, in a flash of colored light, it disappeared only to reappear instantaneously on one of the vilest planets in Toon World: Planet Doom.


	4. Prying Eyes

The sky was a dark purple, far removed from any sun. The seas were churning masses of tar. The land itself was cracked like the dead skin of some extinct beast and the buildings were its exposed bones. The ruler of this desolate place, King Zargon, sat tense upon his throne. This blue face was tight with frustration and his muscular fingers drummed on the arm of his chair. The old crone, Haggar, was sitting by Zargon's side. A thin brown cloak hid her body save for her face and one hand that was gently stroking a thin, blue furred cat. Another man, dressed in royal attire and much younger than the king, stood at the base of the tall throne. It was Prince Lotor, Zargon's only heir who was very eager to inherit the throne, whether his father was done with it or not.

This fuzzy, flapping eyeball made its way into the throne room and perched itself onto Haggar's arm. The blue cat hissed menacingly at it.

"It's about time Haggar. That spy of yours is long overdue," said King Zargon roughly.

"Sorry for the delay, Your Highness, but I'm sure it was worth the wait," said the witch in a raspy voice.

"I doubt that," said Lotor. "Twice now we've sent that spy out and each time it came back with nothing."

"Patience Prince Lotor. Third time's the charm, after all," scorned Haggar. She stroked the eyeball with a single finger. "Go on, my sweet. Show us what you've seen."

The small black pupil of the eyeball blinked and then an image appeared in the air before the evil trio. It was the Castle of Lions control room, as seen from above. King Zargon watched as Tony, the Super Stars, and Coran discussed the battle between Voltron and the insect robeast, the problem with the broken dynatherm, and the locations of the only living beings who might now how to fix the mighty defender of Arus.

"So, Voltron is now nothing more than a worthless pile of scrap metal," crowed Lotor. "This is the perfect opportunity to attack."

Haggar went back to stroking her cat. "We cannot attack Arus yet. The repairs to the robeast are not yet complete."

"Then speed up the process, Witch," commanded King Zargon. "I want that monstrosity of yours ready before Voltron is completely repaired."

"No worries about that, Father," said Lotor. "Without the dynatherm, Voltron will never work again."

King Zargon sat in thoughtful silence for a moment. "Haggar, what is a dynatherm?"

Haggar knew more about Voltron than anyone else on Planet Doom, but even she could not be sure. "I'm afraid I don't know sire. Perhaps it is the mechanism that allows the five Lions of Voltron to draw their energy from the forces of nature."

King Zargon snorted skeptically. "Well, whatever it is, Voltron is nothing without it."

"All the same, Father," said Lotor silkily, "allow me to take a small squadron of ships down to Arus and capture the hidden engineer's before the Super Stars reach them. That will give us more time to repair the robeast."

"Yes, Lotor, a fine idea," agreed the King. Lotor bowed and marched out of the throne room with a conceptual smile hidden from his father. He had been struck with sudden inspiration. If he could get hold of just one of those engineer's he could learn the purpose of the dynatherm himself and gain control of Voltron's power. Then, Planet Arus, Doom, and the lovely Princess Allura would be his.

When Haggar's spying eyeball returned to Planet Doom, another miniature spy was also leaving the Castle of Lions, heading towards the forest. At first glance, it was just a dragonfly, except that this dragonfly was almost half normal size and made of metal. The eyes were opaque glass lenses. Its aluminum wings hummed steadily as the bug made its way through the forest canopy and over to a small area where the trees had been cleared. Within this small radius were three large armored vehicles floating silently a foot off the ground, unsupported by wheels or legs. Three metallic rings lined with sharp triangular teeth floated around each vehicle like the rings of Saturn. Within the same clearing, several M.A.D. agents and their two teenage generals, Smithe and Max, were sitting on fallen logs. Smithe was dressed in his usual gray plate armor while Max sported his light-weight multi-colored armor. The M.A.D. agents were cloaked entirely in black jumpsuits with masks over their faces.

Everyone looked up as the metal dragonfly flew towards them and landed neatly in Max's hand. "This thing worked like a charm."

Smithe smiled his agreement. He was holding a small communication device with a television screen and speaker in his hand. He twisted a knob on the side of the device and an image appeared on the screen. The image was of the inside of a stone room. A huge fireplace containing a roaring fire could be seen behind a wooden desk with a computer terminal on it. In front of the desk was a high-backed chair, but only the back of the chair was visible. The M.A.D. insignia (a menacing-looking cat's head) was prominent on the chair's back. A single muscular arm clad in a black sleeve and a metal glove was draped casually on the right armrest.

A deep, gravelly voice came over the communicator, speaking only a single word, "Report."

"The Dragon-Spy worked perfectly, Dr. Claw," said Smithe. "I…

"We!" interjected Max.

"We were able to see everything in the castle and you were right; something big is definitely going on." Smithe relayed the entire conversation between the Super Stars and Coran, including the Stars mission to find the remaining engineers in the hopes that one of them would be able to fix Voltron's dynatherm.

"This presents us with an excellent opportunity," said Claw thoughtfully. "If we can gain control of Voltron, it will be child's play to take over the rest of Toon World. No one could stop me." Claw was silent for a moment, then asked, "What is a dynatherm, anyway?"

Smithe was at a loss to explain. "Well, we're not really sure, sir. No one in the castle knew, not even Coran. I'm thinking it might be part of the flight system."

"More likely it's integral to the robot's weaponry," said Claw.

"I think it's what makes the Lion's armor so shiny," said Max. Smithe looked over at his partner with a raised eyebrow. "What?" asked Max.

"Never mind," said Claw sternly. The metal hand came up into a fist. "There's not enough time to send more troops. The robeast will be back by the time they get there. You two lead my agents in the new Cyclone Cutters and head off the Super Stars. Bring me those engineers. We will force them to repair Voltron for M.A.D. and reveal the purpose of the dynatherm."

Both generals saluted with a fist to the side of their heads. "Yes, sir."


	5. Sand Dooms

By this time, Mary and Tom were already miles deep within the desert region of Arus which stretched for miles beyond any populated area. The relentless wind caused the sand to rise and fall like ocean waves. Any vegetation had long been left behind. Rock formations stood out as islands in the sandy sea. The fossilized bones of animals served as a warning to arrogant travelers.

Mary was driving Sand Trap while Tom has his head out the window with his tongue hanging open like a dog.

"Tom, you shouldn't have your head out like that," scolded Mary. "There's a strong breeze and were kicking up a lot of dust. You're going to get sand in your mouth."

Tom turned toward Mary and said, "That's ridiculous." As he spoke, as stream of sand flowed out of his mouth and filled the inside of the buggy up to their knees. Tom quickly said, "I'm on it." He pulled a shovel out from behind his back and started scooping the sand out the window.

Mary just sighed and said, "Tom, you are crazy, even for a Toon. You do some of the stupidest things I've ever seen."

"Sorry," said Tom softly. He finished bailing out the sand and put the shovel away.

Two small red spots grew on Mary's cheeks. "Actually, I kind of like it."

Tom's eyes widened. "Really," he said, squirming eagerly in his seat, "Because I can do all sorts of other stupid stuff right now."

"Oh no, don't bother," said Mary quickly. Still blushing slightly, she reached for the radio dial.

"…and that was Chum Bucket with that old classic 'I got you now CRABS!' For those of you just tuning in, this is W-H-A-K radio coming at you with all the music you wish you could get out of your head. Coming up we have some terrific commercials about products you can't afford, but first here are The Beets with their newest number one hit: 'Is That a Flamingo on Your Head or Do You Need a Haircut?'"

"Oh, I hate heavy metal," said Mary, twisting the dial. "Let's see if we can find a country western station."

"AAAAHHHH!" screamed Tom.

"Okay, soft rock then."

"No. AAAAHHHH!" Tom shouted again, pointing out the windshield.

Mary looked up and saw half a dozen Planet Doom space fighters on the horizon. These spaceships were much smaller than the deadly warships used for interstellar warfare, but still twice as big as Sand Trap with huge laser cannons mounted underneath. The crafts were flying low along the ground. Each one was piloted by a robot from King Zargon's vast army except for the one in the very center which was carrying Prince Lotor.

Mary had to agree with Tom. "AAAAHHHH!"

"We're gonna get run over!" shouted Tom.

Mary, also shouting, corrected him. "Those are spaceships, Tom, and they're going to blast us."

"We're gonna get blasted and then run over!"

"There's not enough time to turn," said Mary.

"Reverse! Reverse! Go in reverse!" said Tom.

"That's no good either." Mary had glanced in the rear view mirror and saw six more ships closing the gap behind them. The ones in front had started to fire their lasers and at close range, Mary couldn't keep dodging for long.

Mary tried to assure Tom. "Don't panic Tom. We'll get out of this."

"We're dooooooomed," wailed Tom. "Death is a' coming, it's a' coming for us." Tom smacked his head against the dashboard and accidentally pressed a large green button. From somewhere under Mary and Tom, a rocket engine fired and the entire top half of the dune buggy shot up into the air like a space shuttle. Mary looked over the side and saw the bottom half of the car was still driving along as normal. Both halves of the Key Force vehicle passed safely above and below the line of Doom spaceships.

Mary felt a little weightlessness as the top of Sand Trap came down to reconnect with the bottom. A small bump, a few clicks, and the vehicle was whole again.

Tom still had his face against the dashboard and didn't seem to have noticed what happened. "Has death a' come yet? I haven't got all day."

Mary shook Tom's shoulder. "Tom, look. Look. You saved us."

Tom's head slowly lifted and he cautiously peeked around. Seeing that there were no more spaceships in front of them, Tom sat up straight and shouted, "Woo Hoo! We're safe!"

Mary looked in the rear view mirror again. "For about a second, anyway." The two lines of ships were now heading towards each other and for moment it looked like they would collide, but the ships that had been in front of Sand Trap broke away and repositioned themselves floating over the second line of ships. Now Mary and Tom had a double-decker problem.

"What do we do now?" said Tom.

"We do what Mike told us to do," said Mary, holding up a second ignition key. She inserted this key into a slot next to the steering wheel and shouted:

"KEY FORCE ACTIVATE"

A deep hum resonated from Sand Trap as strings of light spread across the dashboard like cobwebs. Without warning, Mary's chair lowered her into a second cockpit with a vast array of sensors and instruments. There was no windshield, but a hologram of the outside was projected all around the cockpit walls so that Mary could see in 360 degrees. Meanwhile, Tom felt the top half of the buggy rising again. However, it did not rise up as high as before, nor did it separate from the rest of the car. The top half rose up on a hydraulic piston until Tom was seated ten feet above Sand Trap's chasse. A pair of laser cannons extended out from under the top half of the buggy. There was a noise like a metal cabinet being opened. Two metal compartments on the lower half had opened to reveal a pair of missile launchers.

"Wow. This is so cool," admired Tom.

"I'll say," agreed Mary. "I just hope it's got enough firepower."

Tom grinned wickedly. "Let's find out."

The Doom Crafts had started firing again, but at least they weren't gaining ground; the Key Force transformation had given Sand Trap extra speed. Mary concentrated on dodging the lasers while Tom tried to figure out how the weapons system worked.

"Let's see." Tom looked over the buttons on the dashboard as if they were cookies and he couldn't decide which to eat first. He pressed one at random and a joystick popped up in front of him. "Oh, what's this do?" Tom yanked the joystick from side to side causing the top half of Sand Dune to spin around like a top, even though the bottom half was still driving forward.

When the top half finally stopped spinning, Tom climbed off the floor and back into his seat. "Wow, what a ride," he said, grinning like an idiot.

"Tom, stop playing around up there," shouted Mary through the radio.

"Okay, okay, I've got it now." Nudging the joystick gently, Tom positioned himself so that he was facing Prince Lotor and his ships and fired his own lasers back at them. In a blink, Tom had shot two of the ships down.

"Prince Lotor, the enemy is returning fire," reported a robot from one of the ships.

"I can see that, you fool," said Lotor. "Boost power to the shields and maintain course." A kind of blue shimmer could now be seen around each Doom ships, like heat coming off of hot asphalt. Sand Trap's lasers could not penetrate the shields.

"Time for some heavier artillery," said Tom. He pushed a few more buttons and launched a barrage of missiles. A few ships managed to dodge the missile, but six more ships were taken down. Lotor's mighty force was now a mere air show.

That same robot reported back in. "Sire, if we don't retreat now, our entire squadron will be eliminated."

Lotor hated to admit defeat, but his pilot did have a point and there were two other engineers, after all. At the prince's orders, the remaining four Doom ships ceased their attack on Sand Trap and flew off in the direction of the forest.

Once Mary was sure Lotor and his fighters were out of sight, she deactivated the Key Force and Sand Trap reverted back to its normal sand buggy state.

"I guess we showed them," said Tom as Mary appeared beside him.

"And not a minute too soon," said Mary, pointing to the radar screen. "According to this, the engineer should be just ahead."

Another few seconds of driving and the two Super Stars were at the exact location where the radar indicated King Alfor's old colleague should be. However, there was nothing in sight but sand. Mary and Tom got out to look around, but there was no kind of dwelling or structure anywhere.

"This can't be right," said Mary. She checked the scanner on her communicator, but it read the same as Sand Trap's radar. "The engineer is supposed to be right here."

"Maybe he's in the bathroom," pondered Tom. He was walking in a circle around the buggy and Mary. The sand under his sneakers offered little support. He sank down to his ankles with every step until he reached a patch of sand that seemed to be harder. Something solid underneath the sand made a dull thud when Tom stepped on it. He called Mary over and the two of them brushed away the sand to reveal a metal door similar to a manhole cover.

"What the heck is this thing?" asked Tom.

Mary shrugged. "Maybe this is the entrance to where the engineer has been hiding all this time. Let's try to get it open."

Tom pulled out his mace and started banging on the door. Each hit created a loud metallic gong. After four bangs, the door sprang open and a thin, bald man popped out. His skin was pale and he squinted in the harsh desert sun. He'd been underground for a long time. The weird thing was his clothes. The man was wearing a suit and tie that were perfectly pressed and didn't have a single stain or thread out of place.

"Will you please stop banging?" he asked Tom, holding his ears. "This is a metal door and the walls of my bunker are metal. It creates quite an echo."

"Sorry," said Tom, hiding his mace behind his back. "We're looking for an engineer that helped King Alfor build Voltron."

"Yes, that's me: Professor Phlemchex," said the man, massaging his temples.

"Great," said Mary. "Voltron's been badly damaged and we're here to escort you back to the Castle of Lions… "

At the mention of the Castle of Lions, Professor Phlemchex's face filled with fear and he recoiled from both teenagers. "The Castle of Lions? I'm not going near that place of pestilence ever again."

"Pestilence?" said Mary. Tom scratched his head in confusion.

"Yes, yes, the whole castle is a breeding ground for bacteria and germs," ranted the professor. "It was so much worse during the war: all those soldiers with open wounds and tracking mud and blood all over the place. I studied robotics to get away from all that biological waste."

Mary tried to reason with the panicky engineer. "But sir, this is much more important than…"

Professor Phlemchex rolled right over her. "Then, after Zargon attacked, I came out here to the desert and built my private bunker. The desert is a perfect place to live; there aren't any germs because there isn't any life. I keep this area sterile. I have personally brushed and washed each grain of sand within a half-mile radius. I even cut off my hair to avoid lice infestation. I am not going back to the Castle of Lions!" With that final outburst, Professor Phlemchex ducked back into his sanctuary, slamming the entrance door closed. Mary and Tom heard a grating sound from below as the door was locked.

"Wait! Come back!" shouted Mary, pounding on the door with her fists.

"Go away," came a muffled voice from behind the door.

"Can you at least tell us what a dynatherm is?" asked Tom.

"I don't know," said the professor. "I never worked with the dynatherm. I always thought it was some kind of anti-rust mechanism. Now please leave or I will activate the defenses."

Mary stood up angrily. "We are not leaving this desert without you." All around Mary and Tom, small circular laser cannons popped out of the sand and took aim at the teenagers.

Tom pushed Mary towards their dune buggy. "Well, I guess we'll be leaving now," he said loudly and clearly. The laser cannons fired and Mary and Tom rushed into Sand Trap, racing away from the bunker entrance at full speed reverse while laser blasts flew through the air like angry hornets. Once Mary and Tom were far enough away, the laser cannon's stopped firing and retreated back into the desert sand.

"Boy, was that disappointing," said Tom.

"I know," agreed Mary. "We come all this way to help save Planet Arus and one of Voltron's own engineers won't help us save his own planet."

"Well, yeah, that and the guy didn't invite us in for a snack."

Mary ignored Tom and turned on Sand Trap's radio communicator. "Penny? Jim? Come in. Are you there? This is Mary."

A crackle of static and Jim's voice sounded through the speaker. "Jim here, go ahead."

"We made contact with the engineer in the desert, but the little hypochondriac freaked out. We're not getting any help from him. Tom and I are going to rondevue with Tony and see if he needs help. Also, be aware that we were attacked by Lotor and several Planet Doom fighter ships. They may have learned that Voltron is disabled. Watch out, you may get attacked."


	6. Me Tarzan, You Nuts

"You don't say," said Jim harshly. He bounced around in his seat as Penny drove Crash n' Thrash at an almost breakneck pace through the thick forest of Arus trying to outrun the three deadly machines right behind them. Smithe, Max and two MAD agents were driving Dr. Claw's new Cyclone Cutters. The Cutters hovered effortlessly off the ground and had three circular free-floating saw blades that rotated around the hover craft. "Mary, I'm going to have to call you back. Later," said Jim and hung up the radio.

Most of the forest was uninhabited by people, so there were few paths through the trees. Penny was trying to force her way through. Fortunately, the armor on Crash N' Thrash was tough; any trees it brushed against were pushed out of the way with the bark scrapped completely off. Still, that did slow the van down, unlike the Cyclone Cutters, which could just slice though the trees like celery. The M.A.D. agents were steadily catching up to the teenage heroes.

"Penny," said Jim urgently, "those guys are catching up to us and I still don't see the on-ramp to the freeway."

"I'm well aware of the situation, Jim," hissed Penny through gritted teeth. She glanced at her side view mirror and saw one of the Cyclone Cutters. It looked like the snarling mouth of some great beast. Penny could almost see it drooling.

"Hey," said Jim in a mock offended voice, "don't get snippy with me just because you won't pull over and ask for directions."

If Jim was calm, Penny was spitting nails. "Instead of mouthing off, why don't you do something useful?"

"Ookey, dokey," said Jim. He reached across to the driver's side and inserted Crash N' Thrash's second ignition key into the slot next to the steering wheel.

While Penny and Jim were trying desperately to make their way through the forest, Smithe and Max were already enjoying their immediate victory.

"Over the river and through the woods to the Super Stars funeral we go," laughed Smithe. He was piloting the lead Cyclone Cutter with Max right beside him, bouncing up and down in his seat like an excited child.

"Attention agents: keep close formation around the vehicle," said Max into the radio. The pilots of the other two Cutters acknowledged the order. "There's no way they escape this time," he said to Smithe.

"Not unless that van can fly," said Smithe.

"KEY FORCE ACTIVATE!"

Penny and Jim heard a load crack come from above them. The exterior armor shell of the van had split lengthwise along the top of the vehicle. The shell broke apart like a cocoon to reveal a green helicopter. A rotor extended up and started spinning, creating a tornado of dead leaves around the vehicle. The helicopter lifted out of the armor shell. The van's armor closed itself back up and quickly rolled to a stop. Penny pulled the helicopter into a steep vertical climb and broke through the forest canopy.

Max turned to Smithe, both wearing stunned expressions. "Well, what do you know?"

Smithe furiously grabbed the radio. "Follow that chopper. Don't let it get away."

The Cyclone Cutters broke through the tree tops easily and continued their pursuit, but without the trees to slow them down, Penny and Jim were able to stay ahead of the M.A.D. machines. However, they wouldn't be able to out run them.

"We don't want to lead these guys to the engineer's location," said Penny. "We've got to get rid of them."

"Shouldn't be a problem," said Jim. "Let's see what kind of toys Mike gave us to play with." Jim pushed a button on the copter dashboard and a double-barreled laser cannon popped out from underneath the cockpit. A joystick appeared in front of Jim along with a screen that showed an aiming reticule.

"Cool," crowed Jim. As he moved the joystick, the laser cannon spun around. Jim maneuvered the weapon until the Cyclone Cutter on the far left was in his sights. Jim fired and twin green lasers shot out at the M.A.D. agents. The first shot bounced harmlessly off the Cyclone Cutter's spinning blades and it managed to dodge the next two, but finally Jim threaded right through the blades and blasted apart the Cutter. Shards of metal bounced off the adjacent Cyclone Cutter. It was music to Jim's ears.

"Whoo, hoo. One down, two to go," cried Jim.

"Increase blade rotation speed," ordered Smithe. The circular blades around the remaining two Cutters immediately began to spin around the hover craft faster. They were now moving so fast, they created a solid defensive wall. Jim shot the laser again and again, but he couldn't get another shot through.

"I hope this thing's got a bigger gun," said Jim as he started pushing random buttons on the console. One of those buttons activated an air-to-air missile that was launched from underneath the helicopter and streaked towards other Cyclone Cutter with the M.A.D. robot agent. Just like the lasers, the missile hit one of the rotating blades, but instead of bouncing off it detonated and the evil machine went up in a huge fireball.

Jim saw this through the aiming screen. "…or a missile. A missile works too."

"Uh, Smithe?" said Max, tapping on his comrade's shoulder. "Our back up seems to have blown up."

"This may be a good time to extricate ourselves from this pursuit and consider our options," said Smithe.

"Huh?"

"We're gonna run away."

"Oh, yeah, good idea."

Smithe steered the last Cyclone Cutter away from Crash N' Thrash and quickly disappeared below the forest canopy.

Penny breathed a sigh of relief while Jim pumped his arm into the air. "Yeah, baby. I totally smoked those M.A.D. morons."

"You were lucky and nothing more," said Penny. "You're aim was all over the place and you didn't even know what you were doing."

"You know, I'm getting pretty tired of you always ragging on me and the other Stars," said Jim crossly. "We can't all be as perfect as you, Princess"

"I never said I was perfect," Penny shot back. "I'm just trying to make sure everyone is prepared for this war while you fiddle with old cars and online chat rooms. You can't just joke around your entire life."

"Actually, I can. I'm a Toon," said Jim. "I know there's a war going on; you don't have to tell me. You're not the only one who's lost someone to Claw, you know. But I liked to fiddle with old cars and chat with my old friends like I did before this war started. So pardon me if I don't brood as much as you do and instead try to keep some resemblance of my former life!" By the end of his speech, Jim was shouting. He turned away from Penny and stared out the window.

Penny remained silent. Jim's words had hurt, but they had also struck a nerve. She too had friends and hobbies before Dr. Claw had attacked Toon World. Now, however, all she thought about was getting stronger so she could defeat Claw. Penny sat there, barely concentrating on piloting the helicopter and allowing the uncomfortable silence to grow while she pondered what Jim had said.

Finally, Penny was brought out of her thoughts by the beeping radar. "We're…getting close to the engineer's position," she said meekly.

Jim merely shrugged and continued to look out the window, so Penny silently steer the helicopter over to a clearing within the forest. Leaves were blown off the nearby trees as the helicopter touched down. It was a peaceful and beautiful spot, but there was no sign of anyone.

Penny glanced again at the radar. "This is supposed to be the place."

"Maybe he's just not home," said Jim, though he still wasn't looking at Penny.

Penny's comment was cut off by a rustling in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. Both Super Stars drew their weapons and advanced slowly towards the noise. When they were just a few feet from the bush, Jim poked his staff into the bush.

"OUCH." Out popped a fat man with long white hair and a beard that reached down to his chest. He was completely naked except for a loincloth wrapped around his pot-belly waist. He looked pretty old, but his arms were heavily muscled.

"Oh...uh…sorry about that," said Jim. He couldn't quite believe what he was looking at. "Uh…we were just…"

"INTRUDERS!" shouted the man, pointing at both Jim and Penny. "Evil creatures are invading my forest. I will defeat you." With a savage cry the man leaped at Jim, but Jim just sidestepped and the man fell on his face. He quickly got back up and said, "Well played, my friend, but you shall not win."

Penny lowered her sword and tried to indicate that they were not a threat. "Please sir; we did not come here to fight you. We are looking for someone who used to work at the Castle of Lions: Professor Boris Vloknir."

The man posed proudly and said, "That is me."

Penny and Jim looked at each other. "You're Professor Vloknir?" said Jim.

"Yes! I am Vloknir, guardian of this forest. I protect against thieves, lumberjacks, and giant killer buzzards."

"Buzzards? In a forest?" asked Penny.

"They migrate through here every year and...Look out, there's one now." Professor Vloknir dropped to his knees and buried his head in his arms. Penny and Jim looked around, but didn't see anything except for a tiny canary flying low across the clearing. It flew over the professor's head and disappeared into the trees.

Professor Vloknir jumped up to his feet and pointed in the direction the canary had flown. "Ha, ha. I beat you again, you filthy feather duster. You have to shield your eyes," he said, turning to the two teenagers. "That's where they'll attack first. And now, I shall defeat you two." He rushed at Jim, who held out his staff. One end of the staff caught Professor Vloknir in the stomach and held him in place, although the professor didn't seem to notice. He kept running towards Jim, arms outstretched, making absolutely no headway.

Penny leaned in close to Jim. "What do you think?"

"I think that loincloth could be bigger," muttered Jim.

"I mean, do you think this guy really is the engineer we're looking for?"

Jim tried to concentrate over the grunts and oaths coming from the fat professor still trying to get at him. "Well, the radar did lead us to him. Plus, Mary said that other professor went crazy. Maybe being out here alone all these years has driven him off the brink."

"That's just what I was thinking," admitted Penny. "That means that even the engineer Tony's trying to find may be insane. There could be no one left to help us."

"Not to worry, Princess," said Jim happily. "Where there's a will, there's a way and we will find a way. Maybe Tarzan here has enough engineering brain cells in him to at least tell us what the dynatherm is."

Penny thought that was a pretty big long shot, but they might as well try. "Excuse me, Professor?"

"Yes, you insidious cur?"

Penny decided to let that one go. She spoke to Professor Vloknir slowly and clearly. "Do you remember building a giant robot called Voltron with King Alfor?"

Profesor Vloknir stopped trying to get at Jim and glared angrily at Penny. "Do not mention that monstrosity within this hallowed ground."

"What monstrosity?" Jim asked.

"Voltron," responded the professor. He cringed like the very name gave him pain. "Voltron is technology and it is technology that is the root of all evil.

Penny shook her head. "Professor, that's not really true."

"No?" challenged Professor Vloknir. "Zargon attached our planet with his ships and lasers and robots. They destroyed everything."

"Well, yes, that is true," admitted Penny. "However, it was King Zargon, not the technology itself that was attacking you."

"If no one had technology, no one would be able to attack with it." The professor stuck to his beliefs. It was obvious he would not be swayed. "That's why I came here to this peaceful place. I became one with the forest. The animals and plants are my friends now, especially Ned." Professor Vloknir ran over to a wide tree at the edge of the clearing and gave it a hug. "Forgive me for not introducing you earlier. My young visitors; this is Ned."

Penny and Jim gave half-hearted waves. "Hello, Ned."

The professor placed his ear on the tree's trunk and then looked at the tree saying, "Don't worry Ned; your bark doesn't make you look fat."

"Okay, this guy's officially gone off the deep end," Jim muttered to Penny out of the corner of his mouth. "I say we back away slowly and get out of here." Penny agreed and the two teenagers were about to leave when they heard a loud crashing and humming noise coming from the forest and heading their way. Smithe and Max's Cyclone Cutter burst out of the woods, scaring Professor Vloknir who scampered up into the trees.

The two generals jumped out of their vehicle with their weapons aimed at Penny and Jim. "As always, my superior tracking skills have lead us right to our quarry," said Smithe smoothly.

"I thought we were just wandering aimlessly hoping to run into them," said Max.

"Shut up," said Smithe through gritted teeth. He addressed the two Super Stars. "No more fun and games you two. Tell us where the engineer is."

Penny and Jim immediately pointed to the treetops where Professor Vloknir had hidden. He was now standing on a tree branch in all his loinclothed glory with a thick vine in his hand.

"Ha ha, more scoundrels, eh?" shouted the professor. "I shall trounce you as well." He leapt off the branch and swung on the vine until it snapped and he landed face down in the grass once again. Smithe and Max stared as the professor slowly got back up. He wasn't too steady on his feet this time. "So, you think you have defeated me?" he asked the air some six feet to the left of Max. "You have yet to face the wrath of Ned."

Smithe and Max, not knowing who Ned was, cocked their weapons and stood ready. "Bring on Ned," taunted Max.

Professor Vloknir beckoned to the tree behind him. "Attack Ned."

There was silence as everyone, including Ned, stood motionless

"This is no time to get a cramp Ned. Help me to save our forest home."

The tree still didn't move.

Professor Vloknir stalked over to the tree and appeared to be arguing with it. "Fine, if you're not going to help, I'll just do it myself." Again, the professor climbed the tree and again he leapt out on a vine. This time the vine held. He was swinging right for Smithe who stepped out of the way. Professor Vloknir crashed right into another tree. He slid down the tree trunk and landed lightly in the tall grass.

"We came all this way to find George of the Jungle?" complained Max.

"Sucks, huh?" said Jim.

"Maybe we can still pry the function of the dynatherm out of him," said Smithe hopefully. He didn't want to have to report to Dr. Claw that the mission was a failure.

"Good luck with that," said Penny, running back to the helicopter.

"Smithe, they must be going after the third engineer; the one Tony's trying to find," said Max.

"Come on, we have to find him first." Max followed Smithe back to the Cyclone Cutter and took off after Van. As soon as the clearing was empty, Professor Vloknir popped out of the grass.

"It seems I scared them off," he boasted. "Our home is safe again. And a fat lot of help you were I might add," he directed at Ned.


	7. The Old Man in the Mountain

At that precise moment, Tony was racing through the Arus mountain range, unaware that the Super Stars had struck out. There was some kind of interference blocking his radio signal, so Tony hadn't gotten the message that both teams had found that the other two engineers were useless. He didn't even know Lotor and M.A.D. were on Arus. At this point, however, Tony might have welcomed their help finding the last engineer.

The interference that was screwing up Tony's radio was also affecting his radar, so he couldn't zero in on the final engineer's position. Tony had spent all afternoon searching the network of caves that ran through the mountain. He was on his fourth cave of the day.

It's a good thing Tony had Jet Threat. It climbed up the treacherous mountain passes as easily as any other motorcycle would travel on pavement. Being only fourteen, Tony hadn't taken any kind of driving class before, but he seemed to be a natural; must have been all those after school sessions of Excitebike.

Since he wasn't able to receive word from his friends, Tony was starting to worry a bit. Mostly he worried that they might kill each other. Traumatic childhoods or not, Tony couldn't understand how four people could live and fight together without developing trust. He was going to have to do something about that after this mission.

Tony brought his thoughts back to his own problems as he coasted into the entrance of yet another cave. Tony waved the flashlight he found in Jet Threat's glove compartment around the mouth of the cave. It was just like the others: dark, dank, and deserted.

"Hello!" called Tony. "Hello! Mr. Engineer, are you in here?"

There was no reply. Tony took a few more steps deeper into the cave and felt his right foot sink a little bit. He looked down; he seemed to have activated some type of switch. A net dropped down from above and ensnared Tony, forcing him to the ground. The net was unbelievably heavy. It took all of Tony's civilian strength to rise to his knees.

"Well, on the one hand, this is really embarrassing" Tony said to himself. "On the other hand, this trap was probably set by the engineer I'm looking for so I must be getting close."

"Much too close." A stooped figure walked slowly out from the depths of the cave. He was old; much older than either of the two other engineer's had been. He walked with the use of a cane. His white hair was neat and straight and he was wearing a freshly pressed white lab coat and black pants. At first, Tony thought the man's eyes were glowing, but it was the man's glasses that were admitting a soft, but strong light.

"Uh, hi," said Tony. "I'm Tony, the new Toon Master."

"I don't care," interrupted the man. "Just get out." The old man pushed a button on his cane. A robotic arm scooped Tony up in the net and carried him to the cave entrance

Tony struggled to get out of the net. "Wait. Wait. Are you Professor Paltros - one of King Alfor's engineers?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Yes it is," insisted Tony, gripping the threads of the net tightly. "Voltron is damaged and Zargon is going to attack. Arus is defenseless."

"You're Toon Master," pointed out the old professor. "Why don't you just take care of Zargon?"

Tony was getting annoyed. It almost sounded like the old man was accusing him of not caring. "I can't spend all my time protecting Arus. I've got my own villains to fight. Besides, Arus is your planet. Don't you want to help protect it?"

The net holding Tony stopped just inside the cave mouth. Professor Paltros turned back towards the young hero and gave a mocking laugh. "I tried protecting Arus once when I helped in the construction of the mighty robot Voltron, but Planet Doom invaded and destroyed our civilization anyway. I learned then that fighting against evil is pointless: evil never quits or dies."

"But that's why the good guys have to keep fighting," insisted Tony.

The professor spread his arms, inviting Tony to get a good look at him. "Bah, look at me, boy. I do not exactly have a fighting build. Good men grow old and die while new evil forces surface every day."

"New good forces surface too. Look at me. I became Toon Master after my grandfather, Theodore."

"Congratulations," said the professor, rolling his eyes and turning his back on Tony again, "but one idealistic youth isn't going to change anything."

Before Tony could argue further, both he and the professor heard a metallic whistling sound drawing closer to the cave. They both looked up to see Smithe and Max's Cyclone Cutter hovering just outside the cave entrance.

"Attention Mr. Engineer and Toon Master," said Max through the loudspeaker. "Mr. Engineer, give up now and you will not be harmed. Tony, give up now and you will be killed."

"More uninvited guests," sighed Professor Paltros. "Friends of yours?" he asked Tony.

"Hardly," grunt Tony. With much squirming, he managed to draw the Toon Sword and cut himself free. As he dropped to the ground, Tony called upon his power.

"BY THE POWER OF TOON WORLD!"

Golden lightning lit up the cave and in a second Tony was transformed to the Toon Master in his gold and red costume.

Max's voice came on the loudspeaker again. "Shall I take this too mean you won't be surrendering today?"

"You can take that and THIS!" Tony was getting ready to deliver one massive Plasma Pluse when two Doom Fighter ships rose into view from below the cliff.

Prince Lotor quickly took in the scene of Tony and Professor Paltros cornered by MAD forces. Lotor would not be losing twice in one day.

"Back off," Lotor ordered to the Cyclone Cutter. "The engineer and Voltron are mine."

"Try and take them," taunted Smithe. That's just what Lotor did. Both Fighters fired their laser cannons and as with Crash N' Thrash, the lasers bounced off the Cyclone Cutter's rotating blades. The lasers were reflected at the mountain. Dirt and boulders cascaded down the mountain side, completely blocking the cave entrance.

"Don't worry, Professor," said Tony to a very non-worried looking professor. "I can bust right through those rocks."

"And into the waiting cross-hairs of your enemies," said the professor. "You bust out and they blast you. Brilliant plan. How could a kid as dumb as you be chosen Toon Master? You must have been the last choice."

"No," said Tony angrily. "Well…yes I was, but that doesn't matter." The professor had sat down in an easy chair and didn't seem to be listening. Tony was tired of arguing with him anyway. He stared at the wall of rock before him. _Professor Grouch over there has a point_ he thought. They had to find some other way out of the cave before they suffocated.

"Oh, we won't suffocate," said Prof. Paltros when Tony voiced his concern. "The cave is at the head of a vast network of tunnels. When I first moved here, I drilled a second smaller opening on the other side of the mountain which serves as an air duct."

"There's a second exit?" he asked excitedly.

Prof. Paltros answered in an offhand way. "I had originally intended it as an emergency exit should King Zargon find me. It's concealed from the outside."

"Excellent," cried Tony. "We'll get out that way."

"You go, I'll stay."

"We still need your help to get Voltron up and running," pleaded Tony.

"Were you not listening to me before?" asked Prof. Paltros. "I…AM…NOT…HELPING….YOU!"

Tony was about to start yelling, but then simply shrugged and got onto Jet Threat. "Hey, that's fine. It's your choice. I'm sure my team has found one of the other engineers by now, so I guess I'll just be going."

"Good riddance," said the professor as he sunk lower in his chair.

Tony revved Jet Threat's engines and as he sped off into the cave's depths he passed by the professor's chair, grabbed his collar, and yanked him onto the motorcycle. The professor screamed and held tightly to Tony's waist as the light of his living area dimmed.

"Put me down, you fool," demanded Prof. Paltros.

"Absolutely," said Tony cheerfully. "We're going about a hundred miles per hour. I'm sure getting off right now won't hurt much. Probably only half your bones would break."

Prof. Paltros glanced down to the speeding rock floor. He muttered angrily, but made no more complaints.

**While Tony and the kidnapped professor sped toward the cave's exit, Max and Prince Lotor's Lieutenant were standing right outside the blocked entrance, negotiating terms as to who would get control of the professor.**

"We've got dibs. We so got here first," said Max.

"No you didn't," argued the Lieutenant.

"Did to."

"Did not."

"Did to."

"Did not."

While the two of them were arguing, Lotor and Smithe were standing close by with exasperated expressions.

Smithe leaned in close to Lotor. "What say we cause another avalanche and flatten those two?"

"By all means," said the prince of Planet Doom. Their plan was stalled by two vehicles closing in fast. One was Sand Trap, bouncing up the mountain path. The top turret rotated independently of the bottom, searching for enemies. The other was Crash N' Thrash's helicopter mode. The rotors beat a steady rhythm.

"The Super Stars found us already," said Smithe.

"We have to take care of them before finding Tony," said Lotor. Both he and Smithe rushed towards the Lieutenant and Max who were still arguing.

"Okay, we'll do Rock-Paper-Scissors for the professor," said Max. The Lieutenant agreed and both of them put one hand behind their backs. "One…two…" Lotor seized his Lieutenant and forced him to the Doom Fighters. "I win!" cried Max. Smtihe grabbed Max by the neck and dragged him to the Cyclone Cutter.

Mary, Tom, Jim, and Penny were in radio contact as they approached the cave where Tony's tracking signal had been lost. They saw Lotor and the MAD agents take off.

"You think one of them has Tony and the third engineer?" asked Tom in a worried voice.

"If they did, they wouldn't be hanging around here," said Penny. "We'd better get rid of them."

"What about Tony?" asked Mary. "Shouldn't we look for him?"

Jim tried to reassure her. "Tony's a big boy; he can take care of himself. He'll appreciate it if we clear the air out here."

Crash N' Thrash turned to engage the Doom Fighters while Sand Trap started firing missiles at the Cyclone Cutter. Lotor and Smithe returned fire, but were careful to stay within easy reach of the mountain. They didn't want to miss Tony if he managed to find another way out of the cave.

The evil doers didn't know it, but Tony getting ready to do just that. With Prof. Paltros' unwilling directions, they were approaching the emergency exit. The exit was hidden from the outside by a thin metal sheet that mimicked the surrounding rock formation and color. Tony could make out the exit from the outline of sunlight seeping through the gap between the metal plate and the rock.

"Stop this infernal bike so I can take the plate off," said Prof. Paltros. He had to shout to be heard over the air rushing past.

"Sorry, but this is a non-stop ride," said Tony. Jet Threat's acceleration jumped as its windshield slid closed. The professor was still screaming for Tony to stop as they burst through the exit and into the fresh air.

The battle between Lotor, M.A.D., and the Super Stars had brought everyone around to the back of the mountain, so everyone had a clear view of Jet Threat now barreling down the steep mountain incline. The Cyclone Cutter and Doom Fighters immediately changed course to intercept, followed closely by Crash N' Thrash. While Penny and Jim were trying to bring the Doom Fighters down, Smithe maneuvered the Cyclone Cutter right into Tony's path.

"Look out. Look out! LOOK OUT!" shouted Prof. Paltros.

"I see it," said an annoyed Tony. "What, you're the Driver's Ed teacher now? If you are, I hope you noticed Smithe didn't signal before that turn." Tony used Jet Threat's second ignition key.

"KEY FORCE ACTIVATE!"

Jet Threat's sides folded down to become wings with laser turrets mounted on them. A compartment in the front opened to reveal a missile launcher. Flames exploded out of the exhaust pipes as the motorcycle picked up speed and flew right over the Cyclone Cutter. Smithe and Max looked up to see Tony release a bomb from underneath Jet Threat. The bomb exploded on the rotating blades, damaging the hover system, and sending the Cyclone Cutter crashing into the base of the mountain.

The two generals managed to pull themselves out of the wreckage. "Dr. Claw will have our heads when he finds out his new prototypes were destroyed," said Smithe.

"You think that's bad?" said Max. "Our insurance doesn't cover damage from flying motorcycles."

The two Doom Fighters were still busy with Penny and Jim. Lotor's Lieutenant didn't see Tony fly up behind him. Jet Threat's lasers blew the Doom Fighter apart. Lotor tried to return fire, but he was now out-gunned. He blew out of Arus' atmosphere and back to Planet Doom.

"They think they've won, but there's still the robeast," Lotor said to himself.

"Woo-Hoo," shouted Tony. He joined Sand Trap back on the ground while Crash N' Thrash flew overhead.

"Tony, glad to see you are okay," said Mary.

"No sweat, guys," Tony assured his team.

"I hope you have better luck than us in the engineer finding department," said Jim.

"Well, I did find Prof. Paltros here," admitted Tony, "but he doesn't want to help us."

"No, no," said the professor quickly. "I've changed my mind. I'll help you."

Tony was surprised. "Really?"

The professor pounded his seat. "If it will get me off this infernal thing and away from you any faster; yes."


	8. When Robeasts Attack Again

**With the forces of both Planet Doom and M.A.D. defeated, the Super Stars headed back to the Castle of Lions, but there was still the returning robeast to worry about.**

Tony, the Super Stars and Coran were back in the main control room of the Castle of Lions. Tony, Jim, and Mary had taken turns explaining to the royal adviser about their adventures on Arus and alerting him to the mental instability of the other two engineers. Just previously, Nanny had entered to report that the Voltron Force's wounds were healing well, but they still had not gained consciousness. The doctors were confident, however, that all would be ready when the robeast returned the next day.

Now, all nine of them were watching the monitors that showed the front gates of the castle where the five Lions of Voltron still lay. The exterior armor had been repaired and all damaged parts had been replaced while the Super Stars had been gone, but that's all the castle mechanic crews could do by themselves.

Prof. Paltros had shouted away all the other workers. He said he preferred working alone, especially after he met Jim. The young mechanic stared at the professor as if he were a Rock & Roll legend and literally begged on hands and knees for Prof. Paltros to share some of Voltron's secrets with him or relate some stories of the time Paltros worked with King Alfor. The professor had said no…well, actually, he said:

"NO!"

"Oh, please," Jim had begged. "I've been a fan of Voltron my whole life and meeting one of his original creators is a dream come true."

"I don't care," the professor had said. "Now go geek out somewhere else."

Tony and Tom had to drag Jim away and now all Jim could do was watch jealously as Prof. Paltros worked deep in Voltron's mainframe.

Coran had been beyond pleased when the Stars had returned with the professor and couldn't stop thanking them. "Arus owes you a debt of gratitude we will never be able to repay. If there is anything within our power, simply name it and it will be yours."

Tony closed his hand around Jim's mouth before he could speak. "No thanks necessary, Coran. All in the line of duty, right?" Tony directed this question and a hot glare at Jim before releasing him.

"Yeah, sure, glad to help," muttered Jim quietly.

"With Voltron's repairs underway and the Voltron Force in stable condition, it would appear that all will be ready when the robeast returns," said Coran.

"Then I guess our work here is done," said Mary.

High-pitched alarms blazed throughout the castle. Consoles in the command center flashed red in warning.

"Think again," Tony said to Mary.

The huge insectoid robeast the Voltron Force had fought days earlier was back. The Super Stars watched on the monitor as it stomped through the village toward the castle.

"King Zargon's robeast has returned," Coran said in horror.

"It wasn't supposed to show up until tomorrow," said Tony.

"Villains," scoffed Tom. "No sense of time or social manners. They'll just arrive whenever they feel like it and without an invitation, no less."

"How did they fix the robeast so fast?" wondered Jim.

"Who cares?" said Tony. "What are we going to do about this? We have no Voltron and no Voltron Force."

"Wrong again, kid."

Everyone turned to see Prof. Paltros waddling into the command center. He leaned on his cane and rubbed his hands with a dirty cloth. "You're half wrong anyway. Voltron is fully repaired."

"Voltron's fixed?" asked Tony. "Already?"

"Hey, we old folk can move fast when we want to," rasped Prof. Paltos.

Coran looked pleased, but still very worried. "That's wonderful news, but the Voltron Force is still in no condition to pilot the Lions."

"Not my problem," said the professor.

Everyone else in the command center thought hard and fast for a way to stop the rampaging robeast. "Between us Super Stars and the castle's defenses, maybe we can stall the robeast until the Votlron Force is better," said Tom.

Penny wrote that that plan off right away as impossible. "Stall it for twenty-four hours? No way."

"We don't have a choice, Penny," argued Tony. "We're going to have to go out and fight it."

"We wouldn't last long by ourselves out there; not even you," cautioned Penny.

"Who said we'd be alone?" said Tony. "The Lions need pilots and there are five of us right here."

It took the others a second to realize what Tony was suggesting. "You mean, us, the Super Stars, drive Voltron," asked Mary. She was slightly nervous about using such a large machine.

"That is an awesome idea," shouted Jim.

"Except that we don't know how to pilot the Lions," pointed out Penny.

"We'll have to figure that out as we go," said Tony. He raised his finger into the air and said, "To the Lions!"

The insect robeast was smashing buildings like a happy kid stomping around in a sand box. The villagers had not returned to their homes since the previous attack two days ago, so no innocent civilians were getting hurt. The robeast was making steady progress towards the Castle of Lions, though. Once it got close enough, it would rip through the castle walls with its claws or simply blast it apart with its laser.

The robeast halted as it saw the five Lions of Voltron approaching. Tony was out in front in the Black Lion. Penny in the Blue Lion and Tom in the Yellow Lion were on Tony's right. His left was covered by Mary in the Red Lion and Jim in the Green Lion. All of them had transformed into their super hero forms. They could see and talk to each other through the video communication system.

The Super Stars brought the Lions to a halt somewhat clumsily. Yellow Lion bumped into Blue Lion and Green Lion fell on its face when its front paws slipped. Coran had managed to give them a very brief overview of the Lion's controls, but they were still getting the hang of it.

"I think this one's defective," said Jim from within the Green Lion's cockpit. "Can I trade with someone?"

"No," said Tony. "Besides, you insisted on having a Lion that matched your outfit."

Jim got Green Lion to his feet and stood defiantly with the others against the invading monster. The robeast hissed and clicked angrily.

Tony tightened his grip on the controls. "Okay guys; we're going to have to work as a team to take this guy down."

Penny immediately took charge. "Right. Everyone, let's go high and attack from above."

"We'll just get hit by its laser that way," scoffed Jim. "We should fly low, hit its legs and knock it down.

"Maybe we could…" started Tony.

"If we go low, it will rip us apart with its claws," argued Penny. "We need to attack at a distance."

"I vote for the not-getting-hit-by-the-laser plan," said Tom.

Mary tried to restore peace to the group. "Let's just take a minute to think…"

"We don't have a minute," interrupted Penny. "Into the air; let's go." The Toon Princess launched the Blue Lion into the sky.

Instead of following, Jim pushed the Green Lion along the ground. Tony, Mary, and Tom just stood there, not knowing what to do. Blue Lion fired rockets from its claws as Green Lion slammed into the robeast's legs. Both attacks were too weak to do any damage. The robeast shrugged off the rockets and then picked up Green Lion as if it were a stuffed animal and tossed it into Blue Lion. Both Lions fell to the ground with a hard crunch.

"Come on, Mary. We have to do something," said Tom. Yellow Lion bounded forward with Red Lion right behind him.

"Guys, wait," cried Tony. Black Lion ran to catch up with Yellow and Red. The robeast used its laser to hit all three Lions. Warning lights flashed and sirens screamed inside the cockpits as Black, Red, and Yellow Lion rolled over the ground, heavily damaged by that attack. The insect robeast bellowed in triumph.

"Is everyone all right?" called Tony through the intercom.

"Yes," answered Mary weakly. "I think we're all unharmed."

"Oh, man," moaned Jim. "Maybe someone should tell him that lions are the kings of the jungle."

"Will you stop joking around Jim?" said Penny. "If you had listened to me, that last attack would have worked."

"Oh, so it's my fault," cried Jim in indignation. "I think that inflated head of yours is causing you to hallucinate."

"Will you two please stop fighting?" said Mary, irritated.

"Forget them, Mary. The rest of us will take him down," said Tom.

"No, no, we can't win without the entire team."

Tony couldn't believe it. Even now, in the midst of imminent destruction, Penny and Jim were arguing with one another and Tom and Mary were arguing about how best to stop Penny and Jim from arguing. The robeast was charging up his laser for another attack. The Stars were so intent on their squabbles they didn't even notice. Tony had to do something and talking had proved useless. So, there was only one thing left to do.

"I'm telling you, we…What?"

Every one of the Stars abruptly stopped talking as they watched the Black Lion bound towards the robeast and make a flying leap right at its chest. The laser would surely blast the lion and Tony apart.

"Tony!" shouted Penny.

Acting purely on instinct, Tom also leapt at the robeast and hit it on its side, causing it to turn slightly. The laser fired and just missed Tony. If the Black Lion had had fur, it would have been singed. Before the robeast could recover for a second shot, Tony slammed into it, sending it flying backwards onto its back.

The other lions came rushing up. "Tony, what were you doing?" asked Mary in a shaky voice.

"You should have known a frontal assault wouldn't work," reprimanded Penny.

"Funny, it seems to have worked this time," said Tony, pointing at the robeast with one metal claw.

Penny didn't answer at first. None of the Stars seemed to have realized that Tony's attack had indeed worked. "Well…that's only because Tom distracted it."

"And that's exactly why I did it," said Tony. "I knew you guys wouldn't let me get blasted, so I didn't have to worry about dodging the laser and I could concentrate on my attack."

"B-b-but, Tony," stammered Jim. "How could you have possibly known that Tom, or any one of us, was going to do that?"

"Simple. You guys are my friends and I trust you." Tony thought it was all too obvious, but the Super Stars were just now beginning to understand.

A groaning and grinding sound caught the five teenagers' attention. The robeast had gotten up. Its antennae were twitching furiously and its mandibles were clicking in a chorus of anger, announcing that it was ready for Round Two.

Tony addressed the Super Stars. "All right, guys. I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of getting squashed by this miserable mosquito. We're going to take him down and we're going to do it as a team." Mary nodded with a determined look on her faces. Jim let a savage grin come to his lips. Tom gave Tony the thumbs up.

"We're ready when you are, Tony," said Penny. She was surprised and proud at how Tony had taken command.

"All right guys, get ready." As one, all five Lions turned toward the advancing robeast and crouched, ready to attack. "Remember, stop worrying so much about what you need to do and just do it. Trust in each other. Super Stars GO!"

The Black, Blue, and Yellow Lions flew straight for the robotic monster as the Red and Green Lions ran in opposite direction to get behind it. The robeast hesitated for a second, confused by this new coordinated tactic and unsure who to target. It decided that the three Lions in front were the bigger threat. It started to charge up its laser. That proved to be a mistake since Jim and Mary had now gotten around the robeast and let loose with a barrage of missiles at the creatures lower back. The attack didn't do much damage, if any, but it did succeed in disrupting the laser beam, providing Tony, Penny, and Tom a perfect chance to land three powerful blows.

The robeast was knocked back, but far from finished. Since the Super Stars had changed their strategy, he responded by changing his. Instead of firing one massive laser from its chest, the robeast starting firing several smaller lasers from its pincer-like arms. These lasers were weaker, but faster, and the Stars really had to react quickly to avoid getting hit. However, there were five Lions and the robeast only have four arms. The young heroes each took turns directly attacking the robeast while the others distracted the lasers. Despite their success, they weren't able to cause enough damage to destroy the monster.

"Battle plan number 24," shouted Tony. The Stars maneuvered the Lions into position, just like in practice. Jim in the Green Lion started running at the robeast from a distance, bobbing and weaving between lasers. The Red Lion leapt onto the Green Lion's back and used its momentum to leap even higher. At the apex of the jump, both Mary and Jim launched all the missiles and lasers they could. The storm of projectiles blasted the robeast from head to foot and he was forced to stop firing and draw his arms in to protect himself.

Next, Tom in the Yellow Lion and Penny in the Blue Lion came at the robeast from both sides. They each grabbed two of the insect's arms in the Lion's steel jaws. He roared in pain as the two Lions stretched him out. The monster could only look in horror as the Black Lion bounded into him at full speed, completely ripping the robeast's arms from its body. The robeast just stood there howling in pain. Bare wires sticking out of its arm sockets emitted pale blue sparks that quickly fizzled out. The robeast's skin slowly changed from dark green to a light brown, like leaves in autumn, until it simply keeled over onto its back.

"All right!" shouted Jim. "We busted that bug." The Super Stars all congratulated one another, thrilled with the twin victory of defeating the monster and learning to working together. However, King Zargon and Witch Haggar, who had been watching the fight, were less happy about the outcome.

"Yet another of your robeasts have failed, Hagger," said King Zargon, his fingers tightening with suppressed rage around the armrests of his throne. "You assured me that destroying Voltron would be easy, but the Super Stars have made a fool out of both you and my worthless son."

At these words, Prince Lotor shook with a rage to equal his father's. He would have leapt to defend himself against the king's accusations had Hagger not held him back with one skeletal hand on his shoulder.

Hagger stroked the blue fur of her cat as she spoke. "You're Majesty. You, like the Super Stars, do not understand the ways of insects." She stopped speaking as a butterfly with blue and black wings fluttered innocently in front of her. Its delicate wings glittered in the pale torchlight of Zargon's palace. "They are known to be quite adaptable." Hagger slowly extended her hand and the butterfly obediently landed on one of her bony fingers. The butterfly starting shuttering uncontrollably as soon as it touched Hagger's skin. All color faded from its wings as it doubled in size and grew a horrible set of fangs. Hagger laughed as she witnessed how her evil presence had corrupted the poor creature.

The Super Stars took a minute to continue slapping themselves on the back. "Come on, guys," said Jim. "Let's get these puppies-I mean kitties-back to the palace and grab some pizza before we head home."

"Sounds good," agreed Tony.

"Uh, we might have to put a rain check on that, team," said Mary, her voice rising slightly with concern. "Look!"

The steel eyes of the Lions looked towards the fallen monster who, as it turned out, was not as fallen as they had thought. The beast had managed to stagger to its feet. It swayed unsteadily as the electric life-blood continued to spray out of its wounds. The yellow compound eyes seemed to be staring off into the distance, though with no pupils, it was hard to tell.

"I can't believe that thing is still up," exclaimed Tom. The head of the Yellow Lion even shook its head in disbelief.

"No sweat," said Tony confidently. "One more attack and its toast." The Black Lion reared back on its haunches, ready to sprint forward and tackle its prey. The Yellow, Green, and Red Lions were just a half step behind, but before any of them could move, there was a warning cry from Penny.

"Hold it a second. What's it doing?"

The half-dead robeast had started to act very strangely. Its shoulders and legs started to jerk involuntarily. Its head bounced wildly on its neck like a bobble-head doll. The robeast doubled over and the skin on its back began to ripple and churn. A large hump appeared directly in the center of the beast's back. As the Stars looked on in fascination and horror, they realized…

"Something's in there."

The hump was getting larger by the second, stretching the skin thinner and thinner until it was almost transparent. Some kind of dark shape could be seen through the skin and now a high pitched cry accompanied the grinding and popping caused by the bug's spasms. The dark shape thrashed and jerked and finally the robeast's skin could hold no longer. It bust apart like some monstrous zit. The skeletal remains of the insect fell lifeless to the ground and were trampled by the scaled feet of the newly born robeast. It had an insect body, like its parent, but it was infinitely more grotesque. Its scaly skin was black, like it had been burnt, with just a faint tint of green. Instead of two large eyes, it now had six smaller ones; all glowing a bright red. Two pairs of wings protruded from its back like sword blades. The four thin arms had been replaced by two muscular arms, each ending in a wicked three-clawed hand. Its chest had expanded to at least three times the width: a bodybuilder among bugs.

"You have GOT to be kidding me," shouted Jim.

"No one said there'd be a second robeast," whinned Tony. "Did I miss a memo?"

The Blue Lion leapt to the front. "Quick, take it down while it's still weak," said Penny. The other four Lions were right behind her, a cloud of dirt and rocks flung up behind them in their desperate headlong rush.

The robeast seemed to be inspecting its new body. It had been just as surprised by the Super Stars at the transformation. The low growls of the approaching Lions made him look up. The monster simply cocked his head as he looked at the metal claws and teeth racing towards him. Somehow, the shining beasts that had hurt him so much just seconds ago looked nothing more than pets now.

As one, the Super Stars piloted the Lions to jump into the air, claws extended, ready to slash this new robeast to ribbons. The insect creature used one muscular arm to swipe all the Lions aside like so much dust in the air. The teenage heroes were thrown against computer panels and weapon control systems as their Lions bashed and rolled along the ground.

Mary had almost been thrown out of her pilot seat. "So much for 'weak'."

"We're no more than bugs to that bug." Tom had managed to get turned around so that his head was on the floor and his legs were on the armrests. Impressive contortionism, but he'd feel that in the morning.

"Let's blast that thing," said Jim. His finger was already on the trigger.

"Don't waste your ammo, Jim; that won't work," said Penny. "Obviously, we need more power."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Tony's face instantly brightened. He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "I've always wanted to say this: Get ready to form Voltron! Activate interlock. Dynatherms (whatever those are) connected. Infracells up. Mega-Thrusters are go!"

Five voices shouted, "Let's go Super Star Force!"

The five Lioins of Voltron rose up in the air in a "V" shape with Tony in the Black Lion leading the way. Lightning crackled around each Lion, reflected in the metal surface making it look like the Lions had become the lightning. Almost automatically, each Lion began to transform themselves. Tails disappeared and legs were folded up in preparation for the robotic defender. Each Lion was only a head and body now.

"Form feet and legs!"

The Blue and Yellow Lions bent themselves into an "L" shape and attached to the lower part of the Black Lion.

"Form arms and body!"

Now the Red and Green Lions attached themselves to the upper part of the Black Lion. The five metal cats were now one creature with human like body and a Lion head. Then, the jaws of the Black Lion opened wide and an expressionless human face appeared.

"And I'll form the head!"

Voltron was now complete, ready to do battle with anything that dared to threaten the safety of Planet Ares. The Lion's heads that were Voltron's hands and feet roared a challenge at the robeast that could surely be heard all the way back to Planet Doom.

"Now we are ready to rock!" shouted Tony.

The other Stars all agreed. With Voltron, their confidence was building once again. "Let's barbeque this bug," said Mary.

"Excellent idea, my friend," said Tony. "Fire Flamethrowers."

Twins jets of red fire erupted from the jaws of the Red and Green Lion heads. The robeast cringed, but did not have time to dodge and the fire engulfed him. For good measure, two more strings of flame burst from the mouths of the Yellow and Blue Lions. The invading insect resembled the Human Torch for a spilt second before the fire hid it from view. After about 10 seconds, the mouths of the four Lions closed and the fire ceased, although the bonfire where the bug had stood continued to burn.

"Great job, guys," said Tony. "That must have gotten him."

"Whew," said Penny, waving her hand in front of her face. "It certainly smells like we got him."

Unfortunately, they were both disappointed. As the conflagration raged on, a black silhouette appeared in the center of the blaze and slowly stepped out to reveal the robeast, unharmed.

"No way!" exclaimed Tom.

"Huh, that's weird," said Tony, puzzled. "Fire beats Bug: always works for Pokemon."

The robeast screamed a high pitched shrill; its acceptance of Voltron's challenge and its confidence in the outcome.

"Quick, we have to do something else," said Mary, blocking her ears at the hideous sound.

Tony had to shout to make himself heard. "Try firing all four Lion heads at it. That usually works on TV."

The Super Stars prepared to make another attack, but this time the robeast was too quick. It shot forward, running towards Voltron at amazing speed, boosted by the cyclone caused by its buzzing wings. It reached the robot before the Stars could react and slammed into Voltron, pushing it back almost one hundred feet before skidding to a stop. The beasts claws dug right through the metal armor at Voltron's shoulder joints. The Stars tried to shake it loose, but the robeast's claws were paralyzing Voltron's arms and all of Penny and Tom's attention was directed at the robeast's feet which were trying to scrap away at the vulnerable legs.

The robeast's right leg managed to punch a small hole right into the cockpit of the Yellow Lion a scant three inches from Tom's head.

"Does anybody else feel a draft?"

"I hope they can buff that out," said Mary when she noticed the damage.

The robeast's wings flapped faster, kicking up enough dust to obscure both robots from view. Then, the robeast shot straight up into the air, dragging Volton along with it. It flew higher and higher until even the Royal Palace of Arus was just a speck below.

The robeast had Voltron by the right arm, which was the Red Lion. Jim kept trying to punch the robeast with the Green Lion arm, but it was flying out of reach.

"Let…us…go…you…stupid…bug," said Jim, punctuating each word with a missed punch.

Surprisingly, the robeast obeyed and released Voltron's arm.

"Well, that's bet-."

The robeast struck with one fist right into Voltron's stomach, leaving a huge dent and sending the robot defender hurtling back down to the planet's surface. Alarms blared and warning lights flashed as the Super Stars tried to activate Voltron's own booster rockets, but they didn't respond. Voltron hit the ground like a meteor. When the dust settled, Voltron was flat on his back, but still in one piece.

"Is everyone ok?" asked Tony weakly.

"GASP…I can't breathe," wheezed Tom.

Mary was beside herself. "No! Tom, where do you hurt?"

"The stomach, duh," said Tom in a normal voice. "We were just punched in the stomach."

"You idiot," said Penny. "Voltron was the one who got punched."

"Yes, but I'm very sensitive to other people's pain," sniffed Tom.

"Oh for crying out-LOOK OUT!"

The robeast was zooming back down toward Voltron. Its claws were aimed right for Voltron's head. The robot would not be able to survive the hit.

"Jim, Mary, quick!" shouted Tony.

As one, the two heroes yanked on their controls and Voltrons arms shot up to catch the dive bombing robeast. The impact drove Voltron deeper into the ground, but the robeast did not manage to make contact. Before the robeast could react, Penny and Tom maneuvered Voltron's legs underneath the insect and pushed. The robeast was sent flailing through the air and landed fifty feet away.

The robeast was unfazed. It was already up and ready while the Stars were still trying to get Voltron on his feet. The robeast decided not to wait. The glowing in its eyes intensified and energy beams ripped through the air.

"We're going to get hit," said Penny. "We can't get up to dodge it."

"Then don't," said Jim. "Roll over!"

Voltron sprang to the right in a roll that dodged the beam and brought him to his feet in one motion.

"Nice moves down there," said Jim.

"Good thinking up there," responded Penny.

"So bug breath wants a staring contest, huh," said Tony. "Well we can play that game. Firing Eye Lasers." Two blasts of energy shot out of Voltron's eyes and hit the robeast at point blank range, but they seemed to be just as ineffective as the fire had been.

"Not even a scratch," said Tom in amazement.

"We're wasting our time with energy weapons," snapped Penny. "We're going to have to go toe-to-toe with that thing."

"Form Blazing Sword!" shouted Tony. Voltron's hands came together, then slowly pulled apart revealing a glowing strand of white hot metal being pulled like taffy. The glowing ceased and Voltron held in his right hand his most powerful weapon, the Blazing Sword: a silver longsword with a blue hilt.

Voltron rushed at the robeast, swinging the Blazing Sword in short arcs, trying to penetrate its defense while the robeast was likewise using its claws to give rapid jabs at Voltron. The Super Stars were managing to do a fair amount of damage to the creature. Black blood oozed from multiple shallow, but obviously painful cuts. The robeasts pincers clicked in annoyance. It seemed like the teen heroes might finally have been able to regain the upper hand when the robeast caught the Blazing Sword in one clawed hand.

"Hey, give that back," said Mary.

Voltron and the robeast struggled for a moment to gain control of the Sword. The robeast hissed as it grabbed Voltron's blade in both hands and snapped it in half.

"No way!" exclaimed Tony.

"Not good," said Mary.

The robeast, being an insect, had no lips, but you'd swear it was sneering as it casually threw aside the half of the Blazing Sword it was holding. With lightning speed, it laid into Voltron with a vengeance. Mary and Jim did their best to block the attacks, but the robeast was just too fast.

"Watch out. Watch out!"

"We can't take much more."

"He's going for the head."

"Tony, on your left!"

Voltron's head turned only to be blindsided by a direct hit on the right cheek from the robeast.

"Sorry, I meant my left."

"Tom," said Tony with false patience, "we're facing the same direction. WE HAVE THE SAME LEFT!"

The vice grip of the robeast's claws squeezed Voltron's head like a melon as it looked right into the robot's eyes. It was so close, Tony could have counted the number of twitching hairs on the robeast's head. (14,895 – in case anybody cares) All four of Voltron's Lion limbs battered at the monster, but it held firm. Its glowing eyes were getting brighter. It was going to shot its lasers again.

"NO!"

Tony managed to activate the Eye Lasers before the robeast could get his shot off. The giant insect quickly backed away holding its smoking face in its hands.

"Nice shot, Tony," said Mary. "I think that hurt it."

"I think I just stunned it," said Tony, disappointed. "The Blazing Sword is the only weapon that seemed to do any real damage. We've got to cut this bug down to size."

"But the Sword's the one that got cut," said Tom desperately.

There was a moment of tense silence; then Penny said, "I've got an idea. Tony, use the Toon Sword. Tap into Voltron's power and then channel that power into Voltron himself."

Tony just sat dumbfounded for a second while Penny's words sank in. "Can I do that?" It sounded a bit farfetched, even to him.

Even though Tony couldn't see, Penny smiled. "I thought we were supposed to trust each other?"

Tony also smiled, while rolling his eyes, and drew the Toon Sword.

"_Voltron!"_

The Toon Sword crackled with an aura of lighting that flashed from white to red to green to blue to yellow and back again to repeat the cycle. Tony's mind was flooded with memories that were not his own. Images of titanic battles with monstrous creatures of all levels of ugliness fought to make themselves seen. When he had time, Tony would have to take a closer look at these remembered battles, but for now he brushed them aside and focused on the matter at hand.

Digging deep within the power he had summoned, Tony found that he was becoming in tune with the giant robot. While he was still aware of his own body, Tony could feel – like they were his own bones – the many inner metallic gears and bolts and wires that made up Voltron. Then, Tony came across a part of Voltron that was different. It pulsed with heat like a furnace and shone as bright as any sun and at the same time seemed gentle, like a mother's reassuring touch. This entity was not whole; rather, it drew its strength from five other, smaller parts which gave off less power, but were shining just as brightly. Tony realized that this must be the core, the heart, the very soul of Voltron. The five smaller souls had to be those of the Lions.

With this revelation, the larger soul spoke to Tony. It spoke with emotions and feelings instead of words. Voltron was anxious to destroy the evil before and it seemed eager, even excited, to combine powers with the Toon Master in order to do it.

Focusing his power, Tony laid the Toon Sword on the Black Lion's control panel. Energy rushed from the Sword and through miles of circuitry in mere seconds, restoring Voltron's strength and healing its wounds. When the energy reached the Lions, Tony's friends also felt the might of Voltron flow into their bodies and they came into contact with the soul of the robotic guardian.

Tony's eyes snapped open and he glared at the robeast. "It's time we finished this." As one, the Super Stars and Voltron brought their hands together and then slowly pulled them apart revealing a golden stream of light.

"Form Blazing Toon Sword!"

In Voltron's hands was an exact enlarged replica of the golden Toon Sword, engulfed in white flames.

The robeast had recovered from the laser blast and was responding with its own laser. With a few lighting fast reflexes, each shot bounced harmlessly off the Blazing Toon Sword. Its own energy beam having failed, the robeast powered up its wings and zoomed forward to tackle Voltron. The Super Stars had expected that and we not about to let it happen again. A surge of energy gave strength to the flames around that Sword. The fire spiraled around the giant insect, setting its wings ablaze and halting its attack. Whereas the beast seemed immune to fire before; now it shrieked in pain at the fire fueled by Voltron's soul.

Now that the robeast was stalled, it was time to deliver the final blow. Voltorn leapt high into the air. Sunlight flashed off the Sword, but it seemed so dim compared to the fire that was already blazing. Voltorn hung in the sky for just a moment (an excellent photo op) before bringing the Sword down with all its fury. The robeast raised an arm in defence, but it was made of paper before the divine edge of Voltron's new weapon. The Sword sliced the hideous creature from the left shoulder through to the right hip. The robeast stood in lifeless shock as its top half slid facedown into the sand. Both halves then exploded in a giant orange fireball and Voltron, the Super Stars, and the Toon Master looked on in victorious relief.

"We did it!" shouted Tony, waving around the still glowing Toon Sword.

"Hasta la vista, cucaracha," said Jim in a cheery voice.


	9. The Mystery Solved

**With the robeast destroyed and Planet Arus saved from certain destruction for the fourth time this month, our heroes make their way back to the palace where they discover that the Voltron force has awakened ahead of schedule.**

"It was the weirdest thing," said Hunk. He was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed recounting the last few minutes to Coran, Nanny, and the Super Stars. "I was having such a nice nap when all of a sudden this voice came out of nowhere and told me it was time to wake up."

Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Allura had all woken up a few minutes before Hunk with similar stories. "Yeah, that happened to me too. The voice said that we'd won the battle. I didn't recognize the voice, but at the same time it seemed really familiar."

Princess Allura was standing by the medical equipment, reading a printout with the royal physicians. "That's not all. The instruments measured a power surge in the healing chambers just after the robeast was destroyed. The remainder of our injuries all healed at once and at the same time."

"Yeah, I've never felt better in my life," said Pidge. He leapt up to demonstrate this and was grinning broadly until he slipped on the way down and hit his head on the floor. "I'm all right."

Everyone chuckled at Pidge's accident. Then Keith addressed the Super Stars. "It looks like we owe you guys a lot."

"Indeed," agreed Coran. "We are forever in your debt for saving our kingdom."

"No problem," said Tom modestly.

"We're always happy to help out our friends," said Tony.

Princess Allura stepped forward beside Keith. "Friends indeed. You are all welcome to come back to Arus anytime." She leaned forward and gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek. Tony's cheeks grew red and he smiled his thanks.

A disgruntled Jim turned to a disappointed Tom. "Huh. The team leader always gets the girl."

Everyone turned at the sound of footsteps and saw Professor Paltros limping towards the door. "Well," he said in his gruff voice, "I'll be heading back to my cave now." He didn't look at anyone, not even Allura, as he was leaving.

Princess Allura called out to the limping figure, stopping him about ten feet from the door. "Professor Paltros, please wait."

The Professor looked over his shoulder. "Yes, what now?"

The Princess was a little taken aback by Paltros' rudeness, but continued anyway. "Professor, we owe you a great deal as well. We'd be honored if you'd stay at the palace. A friend of my father's is always welcome."

Professor Paltros' answer was short. "Thanks, but no thanks." He resumed his progress to the door.

Tony wasn't all together surprised, but he still couldn't stop himself from asking, "You're really going to go back to those caves with those wild animals and rock slides all the time?"

"It sounds like a very hard life," said Mary sweetly. "Pardon me for saying so, but you're not getting any younger. Wouldn't it be better to live in the palace?"

Paltros turned to face the assembled crowd. "Live in this palace?" He seemed almost insulted that they would even suggest such a thing. "You mean the palace that's always under attack from space ships and giant monsters and where evil clones and slaves are constantly sneaking in? Forget it. I'm going back to the mountains where it's safe." He turned his back on them once again.

"But what if something else goes wrong with Voltron?" asked Hunk. "What do we do then?"

"Try calling a mechanic," sneered the Professor.

"What a horrible man," commented Nanny. Most everyone else didn't look very sorry to see Professor Paltros leave either, except for Jim. He was biting his lower lip and stopped himself from moving twice before finally breaking down and rushing towards the fleeing technician.

"Professor, Professor, please wait."

Paltros heaved a very large and audible sigh before turning around again. "What?"

Jim halted, panting, in front of him. "Before you go, please, I've got to know. How did you fix Voltron?"

The Professor's scowl became even deeper. "Look kid, the inner workings of Voltron are secret for a reason, as I explained to your friend in the cape. I can't just be blabbing about it to anyone who asks."

"I know, I know," Jim said quickly. "It's just…I've been studying Voltron for years and I'm curious as to…" Jim's voice trailed off as he looked at the Professor, whose face said quite clearly that he didn't care one lick.

"I'm curious about how you repaired Voltron too." Penny had come to stand beside Jim. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"You…you are?"

Penny shrugged a little self-consciously. "I'm just trying to show some support for your interests. You know, like a friend."

Jim smiled and his smile grew wider when he saw that everyone else – Tony, Tom, Mary, Coran, Nanny, and the Voltron force – were behind him and expressing their interest in how Voltron was repaired.

"I think it is the least you can do for the Super Stars, Professor," said Coran diplomatically. "After all, they did save you from both Lotor and Dr. Claw's forces."

"Yeah, yeah," said Paltros dismissively. "Apparently I'm not going to able to leave until I tell you, so alright." Jim's eyes sparkled with excitement as he listens carefully. "I accessed the main control circuit board in the Black Lion, located the sensor array and reset the dynatherm sensor switch."

Jim's smile slowly faded and his eyes were sparkling less and less as he realized that this explanation fell about 3 miles short of his expectations. "And?" he asked hopefully.

"And nothing," said Professor Paltros impatiently. He stamped his cane on the floor for emphasis. "That's it. The sensor was just malfunctioning."

Keith was unconvinced that such a little thing could cause such a huge problem. "Are you sure it was just a sensor? None of Voltron's systems were responding. We couldn't even split the Lion's apart again."

Keith took a step back as Professor Paltros waved his cane in the young commander's face. "Such impertinence! Yes, I'm sure it was the sensor. Who's the robotics genius here, anyway? There's a safety relay in the Black Lion's master controls that locks all the other controls if any of the dynatherm error sensors are activated. King Alfor's idea, no doubt." He turned his face and cane to Princess Allura's direction. "Your father may have been a wise leader, but he could be hopelessly paranoid sometimes." Before anyone had really recovered from this shocking revelation, Paltros finally made good his escape and quickly scooted out of the room.

Jim was the first to recover and ran to the doorway. "Wait!" he called desperately. "What the heck is a dynatherm?"

Paltros was practically out of the palace and his reply was faint, but he could just barely be heard saying, "I don't know. Check the manual, why don't you?"

Jim let his hands slip from the door frame as he continued to stare down the empty hallway. He probably would have stood there all day if Mary hadn't put her arm around his shoulder and gently steered him back to the group. "There, there, Jim," she cooed. "It's going to be okay."

"Aba…ablaba…ablabababablaba." A continuous stream of babbling was all Jim could say as his friends loaded him back onto Toon Force One and blasted off for home.

A couple of days later, when Jim had fully recovered from his disappointment, he, Penny, Mary, and Tom were seated in the Soft Room training room. Tony had requested an early training session and the four teenagers were yawning and rubbing their eyes as they waited for the Toon Master.

Tony walked through the door with a wide grin. "Good morning, everyone," he said cheerfully.

"Morning indeed," grumbled Mary. "Why did we have to meet at six a.m. on a Saturday?"

"Because we have a lot of training to do today," said Tony, waving a piece of paper in his hand. He began to read, "First we'll hit the beach and conduct our own sand castle building contest. Then we have to visit Speed Buggy's Garage. We'll stop at the music shop by Starlight Records before heading to the Sprain-Your-Spine Gym for a quick workout before dinner."

The Super Stars were confused. "That doesn't sound like training to me, Tony," said Penny.

"Ah, but it's the most important training we need right now," said Tony. "You guys still need to work on being teammates and before you can be teammates, you have to learn to be friends. We are going to spend the day together and explore each of your interests whether you like it or not."

The Super Stars looked at each other and grinned. "Let the training begin."


End file.
